LITTLE    I7VES    OF    GREAT    MEN 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

a  rare  photograph  taken  by  Alexander  Hesler  in  Chicago,  iS6o. 
and  loaned  by  the  Chicago  Photo-Gravure  Company, 
•u'ho  own  the  original 


'•„' 

•'  '  j 

I 

/  ,     ; 

Little  Lives  of  Great  Men 

LINCOLN 

THE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

By 

WILLIAM  H.  MAC  E 

Professor  of  History  in  Syracuse  .  rniver- 
sity;  Author  of  "Stories  of  Heroi.m," 
"The    Story  of  Old   Europe  ard 
Young  America,"  "Washington 
—  A  Virginia  Cavalier." 

WITH 

4  HALF-TONE  ILLUSTRATIONS  FRO  t 

PHOTOGRAPHS  AND  58  PICTURES  B^i 

HOMER  W.  COLBY 

fc> 

Chicago            New  York            London 

RAND  McNALLYt  CO. 

73117 

Copyright,  1912, 
By  WILLIAM  H.  MACE 


Made  in  17.  S.  A. 


E-24 


U  *1  O 

h  is 

c  c     , 


To  f&e  memory  of 
IRA  MACE  AND  JOHN  DODSON 

two  admirers  of 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


THE  TABLE   OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Preface mi 

His  "OLD  KENTUCKY  HOME"  i 

FRONTIER  LIFE  IN  INDIANA 6 

LINCOLN  AT  SCHOOL 14 

LINCOLN  A  FAVORITE 21 

GREAT  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL  POWERS  .  24 

A  NEW  WORLD  OPENS 27 

LINCOLN  LEAVES  THE  INDIANA  WOODS 

FOR  THE  ILLINOIS  PRAIRIES  •  •  •  33 

THE  SECOND  TRIP  TO  NEW  ORLEANS  .  .  36 

CLERK  IN  A  COUNTRY  STORE  ....  40 

CAPTAIN  LINCOLN 49 

TRYING  TO  GET  OFFICE 52 

LINCOLN'S  NATIONAL  DEBT  .  .  .  .  54 
Two  OFFICES  GIVEN  LINCOLN  BY  THE 

DEMOCRATS 57 

ELECTED  TO  THE  STATE  LEGISLATURE  .  60 
LINCOLN  RE-ELECTED  A  SECOND,  A 

THIRD,  AND  A  FOURTH  TIME  .  .  64 

HE  DECIDES  TO  BECOME  A  LAWYER  .  .  71 

LINCOLN'S  FIRST  LOVE 74 

LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 7p 

GETTING  READY  FOR  CONGRESS  .  83 

LINCOLN  IN  CONGRESS 86 

vii 


viii  The  Man  of  the  People 


PAGE 


LINCOLN  EVERYBODY'S  FRIEND  .  89 

LIFE  ON  THE  CIRCUIT 92 

BEGINNING  TO  DEBATE  SLAVERY  .  .  .  101 
"A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF"  .  no 
THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  .  .  .  113 
LINCOLN  BEFORE  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES 125 

SAYING  GOOD-BY  TO  OLD  FRIENDS  .  .  135 
ON  THE  WAY  TO  WASHINGTON  ....  139 
LINCOLN  INAUGURATED  PRESIDENT  .  .  143 

THE  STORM  BREAKS 148 

SHUTTING  UP  THE  PORTS  OF  THE 

SOUTH 153 

TRYING  TO  FIND  A  GREAT  GENERAL    .     .  157 
UPROOTING  SLAVERY      .     .     ...     .  160 

LIFE  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE       ....  164 

LINCOLN'S  LOVE  FOR  THE  SOLDIER       .     .  168 
ELECTED  AGAIN    ....'....  175 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  WAR  .  .  .  179 
THE  DEATH  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  .  .  183 


The  Preface 

r  1  "HE  story  of  Lincoln's  life  appeals  to 
\  young  and  old  and  to  rich  and 
poor.  Deeper  poverty  and  denser 
ignorance  seldom  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  great 
man.  The  hard  yet  cheerful  struggle 
against  these  twin  difficulties  makes  a  tale 
bordering  on  the  marvelous.  With  wolf- 
like  ferocity  they  dogged  his  footsteps  for 
more  than  half  his  life.  He  conquered 
ignorance  with  Spelling  Book,  Grammar, 
and  Blackstone.  He  won  a  victory  over 
poverty  by  harder  fighting  and  longer 
years  of  toil.  This  struggle  left  its  marks. 
The  earlier  years  of  his  rough-and- 
tumble  life  were  a  rich  storehouse  wherein 
he  laid  up  strength  of  muscle  and  steadi- 
ness of  nerve  that  answered  him  well 
in  the  exhausting  battles  of  political  cam- 
paigns or  in  the  more  trying  days  of  Civil 
War.  The  struggle  with  poverty  devel- 
oped a  rugged  honesty  most  refreshing  in 
the  politician.  Lying  by  the  evening  fire, 
or  sitting  with  his  heels  higher  than  his 
head,  at  the  noon  hour,  or  perched  upon 
a  stump  while  his  horses  rested  from 
plowing,  he  read  in  quiet  his  favorite 


IX 


x  Abraham  Lincoln 

books,  and  as  he  read  he  thought.  By 
this  means  he  developed  an  intellectual 
acumen,  a  solidity  of  reasoning,  and  an 
accuracy  and  beauty  of  diction  that  made 
him  the  peer  of  the  great  men  he  met  later, 
and  gave  him  the  power  to  produce  state 
papers  that  have  no  equal  in  political 
literature. 

The  story  of  his  life  is  both  dramatic 
and  pathetic.  It  takes  hold  on  the  chil- 
dren of  toil  and  the  children  of  wealth.  It 
rouses  hope  in  the  child  of  poverty,  and 
excites  admiration  in  the  child  of  the  well 
to  do. 

Lincoln  was  endowed  with  a  spirit 
of  kindliness  akin  to  that  of  the  Man  of 
Galilee.  It  made  him  the  willing  advo- 
cate of  widow  and  orphan .  Bubbling  with 
fun  and  humor,  it  overflowed  in  stories 
that  made  a  backwoods  crowd  hang  on 
his  words  or  appealed  to  such  a  judge 
on  the  bench  as  Davis.  It  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  treat  Douglas  with  unfailing 
courtesy,  and  enabled  him  to  carry  an 
undying  hatred  of  slavery  without  hating 
the  slaveholder.  It  made  him  long  suffer- 
ing in  dealing  with  politicians  and  army 
officers  and  led  him  to  mourn  alike  for 
Federal  and  Confederate  dead.  It  was 


The  Man  of  the  People  xi 

manifested  in  an  affection  for  the  common 
soldier  that  made  him  the  idol  of  the  army, 
and  caused  thousands  of  men  in  all  walks 
of  life  to  weep  when  he  was  assassinated. 

Nowhere  in  the  story  of  Lincoln  has  the 
writer  essayed  to  teach  a  lesson.  He  does 
not  believe  in  much  moralizing,  but 
believes  rather  in  allowing  the  life  itself 
to  teach  its  own  lessons. 

W.  H.  MACE. 

Syracuse  University, 

October,  1912. 


Medal  in  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
presented  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  by  the  French 


LINCOLN 

THE  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

His  "Old  Kentucky  Home" 

THE  parents  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
lived  in  Kentucky,  having  moved 
to  that  state  from  Virginia.  His  father's 
people  came  from  New  England.  The 
mother  was  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln.  She 
was  tall,  dark-haired,  and  dignified. 
She  was  a  woman  full  of  pleasant  ways 
and  kindly  deeds,  and  was  a  person  to 
be  loved.  She  had  been  taught  to  read 
her  Bible,  a  thing  that  raised  her  above 
her  neighbors  and  caused  them  to  look 
up  to  her,  for  Kentucky  was  then  a  new 
state,  and  books  were  few  and  schools 
were  scarce. 

Thomas   Lincoln,    the   father,    did   not 

know  how  to  read,  but  his  wife  taught  him 

i 


2  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  make  the  letters  that  spelled  his  name. 
The  Lincolns  were  poor,  so  poor  that  they 


-/ 

i- 1. .m  "Storiei  of  Heroism,"  bj  Win.  H.  M»oe 

The  birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Hodgenville,   Kentucky. 

The  window  was  added  by  later  occupants.     The  cabin 

is  now  inclosed  by  a  memorial  building  of  granite 

probably  thought  very  little  about  it. 
They  lived  in  a  cabin.  It  had  but  one 
room,  no  windows,  and  no  floor  but  the 
hard  earth.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  pov- 
erty, our  hero  was  born,  February  12, 1809. 
In  after  years  Lincoln  did  not  like  to 
talk  about  those  days  of  poverty.  Never- 
theless, to  little  Abe  this  home  among  the 
trees,  with  the  neighbors  far  away,  was  not 
without  its  good  fortune.  He  had  an  only 
sister  a  bit  older  than  himself  to  play 


The  Man  of  the  People  j 

with ;  but  these  two  children  had  a  won- 
derful playground:  the  great  deep,  dark 
forests  of  their  neighborhood.  Here  they 
were  free  to  roam  about  to  their  hearts' 
content. 

Near  by  flowed  a  spring,  in  the  bright 
waters  of  which  they  saw  their  own  faces, 
and  from  which  they  took  many  a  cooling 
drink  by  kneeling  on  the  ground  or  by 
dipping  up  the  water  in  the  gourds  they 
had  raised. 

Knob  Creek  ran  near  their  cabin  home, 
and  in  its  quiet  "holes"  of  water  the 
children  often  saw  fish,  which  sometimes 
made  them  a  good  meal. 

On  the  edge  of  the  clearing,  where  the 
giant  Kentucky  hills  lifted  their  tall 
tops,  the  children  wandered  to  pick  the 
berries  for  their  humble  table.  In  the 
autumn  they  were  kept  busy  gathering 
the  brown  nuts  that  came  tumbling  down 
from  the  trees. 

Years  afterwards,  Lincoln  was  asked 
what  he  remembered  about  the  War  of 
1812,  then  going  on  between  the  United 


Abraham   Lincoln 


States  and  England.     He  replied:   "Noth- 
ing but  this.     I  had  been  fishing  one  day 


Rock  Spring,  on  the  farm  where  Lincoln  was  born 

and  caught  a  little  fish  which  I  was  taking 
home.  I  met  a  soldier  in  the  road,  and, 
having  been  always  told  at  home  that  we 
must  be  good  to  the  soldiers,  I  gave  him 
my  fish." 

This  picture  gives  us  a  glimpse  into 
the  Lincoln  household  and  shows  us 
what  teachings  were  going  on  there. 

From  his  good  mother  little  Abe  learned 
how  to  spell,  and  so  quick  and  bright  was 
he  that  when  a  strolling  schoolmaster  be- 
gan a  school,  to  which  boys  and  girls  in 


The  Man  of  the  People  5 

their  teens  went,  they  were  surprised  to 
see  Abe  move  up  to  the  head  of  the  class 
and  stay  there. 

In  that  early  day  preachers  and 
churches  were  as  scarce  as  teachers  and 
schools.  But  to  the  village,  three  miles 
from  the  Lincoln  home,  there  sometimes 
came  a  preacher.  Then  all  the  people,  for 
miles  and  miles  around,  went  to  hear 
him  preach.  After  these  meetings  little 
Abe,  then  but  five  years  old,  went  home, 
mounted  a  stool,  and  imitated  the  min-. 
ister  in  all  those  ways  that  strike  a  boyish 
imagination. 

In  after  years,  when  Lincoln  sat  in 
the  White  House,  a  friend  one  day  said 
to  him:  "How  would  you  like,  when  the 
war  is  over,  to  visit  your  old  home  in 
Kentucky?" 

"I  would  like  it  very  much,"  answered 
President  Lincoln.  "I  remember  that  old 
home  very  well.  Our  farm  was  composed 
of  three  fields.  It  lay  in  the  valley  sur- 
rounded by  high  hills  and  deep  gorges. 
Sometimes  when  there  came  a  big  rain 


6  Abraham   Lincoln 

in  the  hills  the  water  would  come  down 
through  the  gorges  and  spread  all  over  the 
farm." 

Frontier  Life  in  Indiana 

When  little  Abe  reached  the  age  of 
seven,  in  the  very  year  that  Indiana 
became  a  state,  Thomas  Lincoln  moved 
across  the  Ohio  River. 

This  trip  was  a  big  event  in  the  life  of 
this  slowly  budding  boy.  As  they  jour- 
neyed along,  new  sights  and  sounds  met 
eye  and  ear.  The  forests  seemed  to  grow 
greater.  They  were  peopled  with  birds 
and  beasts,  and  in  larger  numbers  than 
they  had  known  in  their  old  home.  The 
hills  grew  higher  and  the  roads  steeper 
as  they  came  nearer  the  river. 

How  beautiful  the  Ohio!  To  the  minds 
of  these  children,  so  deep  and  so  wide ! 

When  they  had  crossed  the  great  stream 
that  seemed  to  the  children  like  a  sea, 
they  hired  a  wagon  to  haul  their  goods. 
How  were  they  to  make  their  way  through 


The  Man  of  the  People  7 

the  thick  forests,  sixteen  miles  from  the 
river?  Trees  and  bushes  had  to  be  cut 
down  in  order  to  make  a  road.  The 
boy  was  too  free  and  too  happy  to  feel 
sad  at  leaving  the  old  Kentucky  home, 
or  to  be  frightened  at  starting  a  new 
home  in  the  Indiana  woods. 

The  Lincolns  finally  came  to  the  place 
where  their  home  was  to  be.  It  was  one 
mile  and  a  half  from  what  is  now  Gentry  - 
ville,  in  Spencer  County.  Here  there  was 
plenty  to.  do.  The  boy  helped  his  father 
make  a  "half -faced  camp,"  as  the  settlers 
called  such  buildings.  It  was  fourteen 
feet  square,  with  only  three  walls  and  no 
chimney.  The  fourth  side  was  left  open 
to  the  weather,  to  allow  persons  to  pass 
in  and  out,  and  to  permit  a  fire.  This 
"shack,"  as  it  would  be  called  to-day,  had 
a  rude  covering  for  a  roof.  The  hard 
earth  furnished  a  floor. 

In  the  days  of  warm  sunshine  which 
belong  to  southern  Indiana,  this  camp  did 
very  well,  but  when  the  cold  and  snow  of 
winter  came,  it  was  indeed  a  poor  sort  of  a 


8  Abraham   Lincoln 

house.     Little  Abe  and  his  ax  were  busy 
keeping  the  fire  burning  brightly. 

But  he  had  other  duties;  there  was  a 
clearing  to  make.  The  trees  had  to  be 
cut  down,  trimmed,  and  then  cut  into  logs 
so  they  could  be  rolled  together  in  great 
piles  and  burned.  The  ground  so  cleared 
was  planted  in  the  spring,  the  larger  part 
in  corn. 

When  the  corn  grew  ripe  it  was  tried 
on  a  "gritter."     This  was  a  rude   affair 
made  of  a  piece  of  flat  tin 
punched  full  of  holes,  and 
then  nailed  to  a  board  with 
the  rough  side  turned  up. 
An  ear  of  corn  was  rubbed 
over     the     gritter 
until     the     grains 
had  been    rubbed 
down  to  the  cob. 
^H-  Thus  did  the  Lin- 
•  -  coins  probably  first 
obtain  fresh  "corn 

Hominy  mortar,  gourds,  and  dodgCT,          baked 

pail,  used  by  pioneers  in  from      tVlP 

Lincoln  s  time  UVUl       I/ 11  e 


The  Man  of  the  People  g 

obtained  in  this  rude  way.  But  when  the 
corn  grew  drier,  so  that  it  could  be 
shelled,  little  Abe  was  put 
astride  a  horse  to  carry  a 
bagful  to  mill,  seven  miles 
through  the  thick  woods. 
After  reaching  there,  he  had 
to  wait  his  turn.  When  his 
time  came,  the  miller  poured 
the  corn  into  the  hopper,  A  Dutch  °*en 
and  then  turned  the  crank  until  it  was 
ground  out.  After  the  people  grew  in 
numbers,  Abe  went  to  a  "horse  mill," 
where  his  horse  furnished  the  power  that 
turned  the  crank.  When  the  corn  was 
ground  Abe  once  more  mounted  his  horse, 
upon  the  bag  of  meal,  and  rode  home. 

At  home,  his  mother  baked  fresh  corn 
bread  in  an  old  Dutch  oven,  or  in  a  skillet. 
Perhaps,  to  give  Abe  and  his  sister  a  treat, 
she  baked  a  "  johnnycake."  This  sort  of 
bread  was  baked  on  a  smooth  board, 
before  a  red-hot  fire. 

In  the  meantime,  Thomas  Lincoln  had 
been  busy  cutting  down  trees  and  cutting 


io  Abraham   Lincoln 

off  logs,  to  make  a  real  cabin.  This  house 
contained  but  one  room  and  a  loft,  up 
to  which  the  future  President  climbed  on 
pegs  driven  into  the  wall.  In  the  corner 
of  the  loft  was  little  Abe's  bed.  It  was  a 
pile  of  leaves.  The  cabin  had  no  doors  to 
shut  out  the  cold  and  rain.  The  windows 
were  without  glass,  and  the  earth  again 
furnished  a  floor  for  the  cabin. 

The  furniture  was  very  rude.  Thomas 
Lincoln  and  his  son  made  it  with  whatever 
tools  they  had.  The  table  and  chairs  were 
made  of  rough  slabs  of  wood,  split  from 
trees,  with  the  top  smoothed  off.  The 
bedstead  was  a  frame  of  poles  held  up  by 
two  outer  posts,  the  ends  made  firm  by 
driving  poles  into  auger  holes  that  had 
been  bored  into  the  wall  of  the  cabin.  The 
coverings  for  this  bed  were  the  skins 
of  bear  and  deer  which  the  father  had 
brought  down  in  the  forest  with  his  rifle. 

In  this  lowly  home  the  sad,  sweet-faced 
mother  taught  her  boy  how  to  read  and 
write.  He  was  now  eight  years  old,  and 
was  a  large  boy  for  his  age.  The  mother 


The  Man  of  the  People 


II 


must  have  caught  some  signs  of  the 
brightness  of  mind  he  was  afterwards  to 
show.  There  was  something  about  the 
boy  to  attract  people.  Even  at  this  early 


From  "Stories  of  Heroism,"  bj  Wm.  H.  M»o« 

The  grave  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln 

age  he  showed  unusual  kindness  of  heart 
and  great  sympathy  with  anything  he 
found  suffering. 

Shortly  after  the  new  cabin  was  finished, 
friends  and  relatives  of  the  Lincolns  from 
.  Kentucky  moved  to  Indiana,  and  some  of 
them  camped  in  the  old  "shack."  Very 
soon  there  came  some  kind  of  sickness  into 
the  Pigeon  Creek  Settlement,  as  Lincoln's 


12  Abraham  Lincoln 

neighborhood  was  called.  No  doctor 
could  do  anything  with  it.  Finally  Lin- 
coln's mother  was  stricken.  When  the  poor 
woman  felt  she  must  die,  she  called  her  boy 
to  her  bedside  and  said  to  him:  "I  am 
going  away  from  you,  Abraham,  and  shall 
not  return.  I  know  that  you  will  be  a  good 
boy ;  that  you  will  be  kind  to  Nancy  arid 
to  your  father.  I  want  you  to  live  as  I 
have  taught  you,  and  to  love  your  Heav- 
enly Father."  Many  years  afterwards, 
when  Lincoln  had  become  famous,  he 
declared,  "All  that  I  am,  or  hope  to  be,  I 
owe  to  my  angel  mother." 

The  death  of  his  mother  was  the  first 
real  sorrow  that  little  Abe  had  ever  known. 
It  cut  him  to  the  heart  to  think  that  his 
mother  had  been  buried  without  the  tender 
words  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  He 
brooded  over  it  until  he  finally  decided  to 
send  a  letter  to  Kentucky  asking  his  old 
friend,  the  Rev.  David  Elkin,  to  Indiana 
to  preach  his  mother's  funeral  sermon. 
The  good  man  came  to  speak  the  last  sad 
words  in  memory  of  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln. 


The  Man  of  the  People  13 

In  after  years,  a  noble  man  raised  a 
stone  over  her  grave,  bearing  the  following 
words:  "Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  mother 
of  President  Lincoln;  died  October  5th, 
A.D.  1818,  aged  35  years.  Erected  by  a 
friend  of  her  martyred  son,  1879." 

For  a  year  the  family  had  a  bitter  time. 
Nancy  was  the  new  housekeeper,  just 
twelve  years  old.  She  baked  the  "corn 
dodger,"  and  fried  the  bacon,  and  kept  the 
house  as  well  as  she  knew  how.  But  we 
can  well  believe  the  family  had  a  hard 
time  keeping  cheerful. 

In  the  autumn  Thomas  Lincoln  went 
back  to  Kentucky  and  married  a  widow. 
A  few  days  later  Abraham  and  Nancy 
were  greatly  surprised  to  see  a  four- 
horse  wagon  loaded  with  furniture  driven 
up  to  their  lowly  cabin  in  the  woods.  In 
all  their  lives  they  had  not  seen  such  a 
show  of  fine  things.  And  now  comes  a 
new  mother  and  a  new  brother  and  new 
sisters.  The  two  children  were  in  tatters, 
and  must  have  noticed  the  better  clothes 
of  the  newcomers.  But  it  was  not  for 


14  Abraham  Lincoln 

long,  for  the  new  mother  took  hold  of 
things  in  earnest  and   soon  had  as  good 
clothes   on    Abraham 
and  his  sister  as  upon 
the  others. 

Thomas  Lincoln  was 
stirred  by  the  example 
of  his   new  wife,  and 
soon  a  door  was  hung, 
'a  floor  was  laid,  and 
windows  were  provided 
for  the  cabin.     Pros- 
pects brightened,  and 
contentment  came  to 
Lincoln's  stepmother,         smile  on  that  cabin  in 

Sarah  Bush  Lincoln,  1  - 

it  the  age  of  seventy-six  the    WOOO.S. 

Lincoln  at  School 

Mrs.  Lincoln  very  soon  saw  that 
Abraham  was  a  child  of  unusual  ability. 
She  learned  to  love  the  great,  awkward 
boy  for  his  kind  and  gentle  nature.  She 
encouraged  him  in  every  way  she  could 
to  study  and  improve  himself. 


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>  3^  -3>r 
/>    ^     «v 


A  /ea/  /rom  Lincoln's  exercise  book 


16  Abraham  Lincoln 

Abraham  studied  reading,  writing,  spell- 
ing, and  arithmetic  in  a  schoolhouse  built 
by  the  neighbors.  But  the  boys  of  this 
school  were  bent  upon  having  fun. 
They  wrestled,  threw  weights,  and  often 
indulged  in  fisticuffs.  Abraham  loved 
to  learn,  but  he  also  loved  all  outdoor 
sports,  except  fighting.  He  never  began  a 
quarrel,  and  he  permitted  no  one  to  pick 
a  quarrel  with  him.  Frequently  the  boys 
chose  him  to  settle  their  differences,  be- 
cause he  was  sure  to  do  what  was  right. 

Three  or  four  years  went  by.  Abraham 
was  fourteen  when  the  next  school  was 
opened,  some  five  miles  from  home.  His 
third  school  in  Indiana  began  when  he  was 
seventeen.  He  practiced  writing  with 
pen  and  ink.  He  was  careful  to  copy 
tables,  rules,  and  sums  for  future  use, 
when  the  textbook  might  not  be  handy. 
The  sums  with  which  he  took  so  much 
care  were  those  of  long  measure,  land 
measure,  and  dry  measure.  If  we  count 
all  the  time  Abraham  went  to  school  we 
shall  find  it  to  be  about  one  year. 


i8 


Abraham  Lincoln 


A  lazy  boy  would  have  forgotten  what 
he  learned  at  one  school  before  the  next 
school  began.  Abraham  made  use  of 
every  bit  of  knowledge  he  gained  to  help 
him  on  to  something  better. 

His  stepmother  bore  loving  witness  to  his 
desire  to  know.  "Abe  read  diligently.  .  .  . 
He  read  every  book  he  could  lay  his  hands 
on;  and,  when  he  came  across  a  passage 
that  struck  him,  he  would  write  it  down 
on  boards  if  he  had  no  paper,  and  keep  it 

there  until  he 


did  get  paper. 
Then  he  would 
rewrite  it,  look 
at  it,  repeat 
it." 

Before  the 
fire.in  evening 
time,  young 
Lincoln  would 
often  seize  the 
board  shovel 
and  cover  it 
with  sums. 


After  *  painting  bj  Eaitmiu  JohnMD 

Lincoln  reading  by  the  light  of  the  fire 


The  Man  of  the  People  ip 

Then  he  would  take  a  shaving  knife,  shave 
off  the  sums,  and  begin  again.  Such  a 
student  would  soon  be  far  ahead  of  his 
companions.  John  Hanks,  one  of  the  boys 
that  grew  up  with  Lincoln,  says,  "When 
Abe  and  I  returned  to  the  house  from 
work  he  would  go  to  the  cupboard,  snatch 
a  piece  of  corn  bread,  take  down  a  book, 
sit  down,  cock  his  legs  up  as  high  as  his 
head,  and  read."  Books  were  few  in  that 
pioneer  state,  and  Abraham  had  a  hard 
time  finding  enough  of  them.  He  read 
the  Bible,  and  reread  it.  He  read  in  the 
same  way  Robinson  Crusoe,  ^sop's  Fables, 
Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Weems'  Life 
of  Washington,  and  a  history  of  the  United 
States.  He  read  them  until  he  knew 
them.  They  were  like  old  friends. 

Too  poor  to  own  books,  he  borrowed 
them  from  the  neighbors.  One  book  he 
came  to  own  in  a  curious  way.  He  per- 
mitted Weems'  Life  of  Washington  to  get 
wet.  The  owner  charged  him  three  days' 
work  at  pulling  fodder  for  the  wet  book. 
Lincoln  was  now  the  proud  owner  of  a 


2O  Abraham   Lincoln 

Life  of  Washington.      He  read  over  and 
over  again  the  many  interesting  stories 


Some  of  Lincoln's  books 

told  by  Weems.  Washington  stood  out 
in  his  mind  as  one  of  the  greatest  men 
that  ever  lived. 

As  he  grew  older  his  longing  to  read 
increased.  He  told  a  friend  once  that  he 
"read  through  every  book  he  had  ever 
heard  of  in  that  county,  for  a  circuit  of 
fifty  miles."  He  even  kept  a  book  in  the 
"cracks  of  his  loft"  so  that  he  might  read 
at  peep  of  day. 

When  he  became  a  plowboy  in  the 
newly  cleared,  stumpy  fields,  he  was  often 


The  Man  of  the  People  21 

seen  perched  on  a  stump  reading  while 
the  horse  rested. 

When  Lincoln  was  in  his  teens  a  friend 
living  in  Rockport,  not  far  away,  had  a 
good  library.  He  let  young  Lincoln  use 
it  to  his  heart's  content. 

Lincoln  a  Favorite 

Lincoln  was  always  a  favorite  with  the 
small  boys,  for  he  could  never  bear  to 
see  a  large  boy  "run  over"  the  smaller 
ones.  He  always  took  the  small  boy's  part 
when  the  quarrel  was  just. 

With  so  many  persons  in  that  one-room 
cabin,  it  was  a  miracle  that  Mrs.  Lincoln 
kept  the  children  from  quarreling.  But 
Abraham  was  peacemaker  also,  and  gen- 
erally kept  the  family  in  good  humor 
by  his  quaint  stories,  or  by  his  explana- 
tions, in  simple  language,  of  something  he 
had  read.  Mrs.  Lincoln  long  afterwards 
gave  loving  words  in  his  favor:  "I  can 
say,  what  scarcely  one  mother  in  a  thou- 
sand can  say,  Abe  never  gave  me  a  cross 
word  or  look,  and  never  refused  in  fact  or 


22  Abraham,   Lincoln 

appearance  to  do  anything  I  asked  him. 
.  .  .  I  had  a  son  John,  who  was  raised 
with  Abe.  Both  were  good  boys,  but  I 
must  say,  both  now  being  dead,  that  Abe 
was  the  best  boy  I  ever  saw,  or  expect  to 
see." 

Abe  was  a  favorite  in  all  kinds  of  frontier 
parties,  such  as  house  raisings,  log  roll- 
ings, corn  huskings,  and  spelling  matches, 
or  any  other  kind  of  gathering  which 
belonged  to  the  rude  life  of  the  frontier. 
To  the  fun  and  frolic  of  such  events 
Abraham  could  add  the  spice  of  telling 
stories.  At  the  spelling  school  he  was 
leader.  Nobody  could  "spell  him  down." 
He  was  always  the  first  to  be  chosen,  for 
whoever  won  him,  won  the  match.  Finally 
he  was  ruled  out  and  had  to  pronounce 
the  words  for  the  rest  of  the  spellers. 

Young  Lincoln  possessed  another  gift 
that  made  him  a  rare  favorite  in  a 
backwoods  audience — the  ability  to  imi- 
tate. His  power  to  mimic  persons  he  had 
heard  was,  in  that  rude  time,  quite  an 
accomplishment.  On  some  occasions  he 


The  Man  of  the  People  23 

mounted  a  stump  or  log,  and  imitated 
the  gestures  and  tone  of  voice  of  some 
itinerant  preacher.  At  other  times,  after 
he  had  been  to  the  county  seat  and 
listened  to  some  lawyer  trying  a  case, 
he  held  a  mock  trial  and  indulged  in 
oratory  that  he  had  heard  in  the  court 
room. 

It  is  apt  to  be  a  boy's  ambition  to 
become  a  writer  of  rhymes.  Most  chil- 
dren have  this  "disease,"  like  an  attack 
of  measles,  but  once  in  a  lifetime.  But 
Lincoln  kept  plodding  away  at  it  until 
he  really  learned  the  art  of  making  verses. 
A  few  of  the  jingles  with  which  he  used  to 
amuse  himself  and  the  boys  around  him 
have  come  down  to  us.  This  verse  is 
taken  from  his  copy  book : 

Abraham  Lincoln, 
his  hand  and  pen ; 
he  will  be  good  but 
God  knows  when. 

In  writing  a  "copy"  for  a  friend  he 
produced  this: 

Good  boys,  who  to  their  books  apply, 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  by. 


24  Abraham   Lincoln 

Later  the  pen  of  the  ambitious  young 
backwoodsman  took  another  turn.  One 
time  he  was  working  for  a  farmer.  This 
farmer  treated  Lincoln  unfairly,  and  be- 
cause he  was  easily  teased  about  his  nose 
young  Lincoln  took  revenge  by  mak- 
ing rhymes  about  it.  The  farmer's  nose 
was  long  and  crooked,  and  when  Lincoln 
finished  his  rhyming  it  surely  did  not 
appear  any  shorter  or  straighter.  To  the 
people  of  Gentryville  this  was  a  new  way 
of  "getting  even,"  and  it  gave  them  a 
still  higher  opinion  of  young  Lincoln's 
ability. 

Great  Physical  and  Mental  Powers 

In  the  friendly  trials  of  muscle,  Lincoln 
at  the  age  of  nineteen  was  the  first  man  of 
his  neighborhood.  He  grew  so  fast  and 
so  large  that  before  he  had  reached  this 
age  he  was  six  feet  and  four  inches  tall. 
His  arms  and  legs  were  long  and  strong. 
He  had  very  big  hands  and  feet.  He  not 
only  excelled  older  boys  than  himself  in 
reading  and  reasoning,  but  he  was  easily 


The  Man  of  the  People  25 

the  champion  when  it  came  to  trials  of 
physical  strength. 

He  could  outrun,  out  jump,  outlift,  and 
outwrestle  the  boys  of  his  own  age.  He 
could  chop  down  trees  quicker,  and  split 
rails  easier,  than  men  far  older.  The 
mighty  swing  of  his  ax  was  so  powerful 
that  he  buried  it  deep  in  the  trees.  He  was 
in  great  demand,  therefore, 
at  all  house  raisings  and 
log  rollings. 

Three  men  were  disput- 
ing one  day  as  to  how  they 
should  join  in   carrying  a       Lincoln's  ax 
great  log,  when  Lincoln  stepped  in,  coolly 
picked  up  the  log,  and  carried  it  where  it 
was  wanted. 

It  was  knowledge,  not  money,  that 
Abraham  wanted.  He  plowed  fields,  hoed 
corn,  swung  the  scythe,  flailed  wheat,  and 
chopped  down  trees  to  get  books.  He 
"would  walk  farther  and  work  harder  to 
get  an  old  book  than  any  one  else  around 
him  would  walk  or  work  to  get  a  new 
dollar  bill." 


26  Abraham   Lincoln 

He  walked  every  week  to  the  village 
store  to  read  the  newspaper,  which  came 
from  Louisville.  Some  of  the  people  liked 
to  hear  him  read  bits  of  great  debates  in 
Congress,  and  to  listen  to  his  odd  say- 
ings about  the  men  and  their  views. 
Sometimes  he  read  news  from  the  great 
world  about  which  the  men  in  the  back- 
woods village  knew  so  little. 

Lincoln  used  to  astonish  people  by 
telling  them  that  the  sun  did  not  move 
nor  the  moon  go  up  or  down,  that  it  was 
really  the  earth  that  did  the  moving, 
sinking,  and  rising.  Such  ideas  were 
strongly  disputed  by  some  of  the  people 
of  that  age  in  Indiana. 

Abraham  could  not  bear  to  see  his  lit- 
tle dumb  friends  mistreated.  So  he  wrote 
an  essay  on  "Cruelty  to  Animals."  He 
hated  strong  drink,  and  was  always  a 
temperate  man.  He  saw  around  him 
many  of  the  evils  from  drinking  too  much 
whisky.  The  pioneers  always  used  whisky 
at  gatherings.  Seldom,  if  ever,  was  there 
a  voice  raised  against  it.  But  Lincoln 


The  Man  of  the  People  27 

was  bold  enough  to  write  an  essay  on 
"Temperance."  A  preacher,  struck  by 
its  reasoning,  had  it  published  in  a  news- 
paper. 

Later  Lincoln  made  another  effort,  this 
time  in  the  direction  of  politics.  He 
wrote  a  paper  on  "The  American  Govern- 
ment." In  this  essay  young  Lincoln  took 
the  ground  that  the  "Constitution  ought 
to  be  preserved  and  the  Union  ought  to 
be  kept  from  breaking  up."  Could  it  be 
that  Lincoln  had  found  in  the  debates  in 
Congress  a  hint  of  the  doctrines  that  some 
of  its  members  were  beginning  to  preach  ? 
A  lawyer,  after  reading  the  powerful 
appeal  in  behalf  of  the  Union,  declared 
that  "the  world  couldn't  beat  it." 

A  New  World  Opens 

The  Ohio  River  brought  young  Lin- 
coln a  new  opportunity.  The  work  of 
carrying  people  across  the  river,  or  of 
taking  them  out  in  a  rowboat  to  meet 
some  passing  steamer,  brought  Lincoln 
into  new  company. 


28 


Abraham   Lincoln 


Long  years  afterwards,  Lincoln  told  his 
great  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Seward,  this 
story  of  his  boyhood  days.  "Did  you  ever 
hear  how  I  earned  my  first  dollar? 
After  much  persuasion,  I  had  got  the  con- 
sent of  my  mother  to  go  and  construct  a 


A  Mississippi  River  flatboal 

flatboat.  ...  I  was  wondering  whether  I 
could  make  it  stronger  when  two  men  with 
trunks  came  down  to  the  shore  in  car- 
riages and,  looking  at  the  different  boats, 
singled  out  mine,  and  asked,  'Who  owns 
this?'  'I  do.'  'Will  you  take  us  and 
our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer?'  'Cer- 
tainly,' said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have 
the  chance  of  earning  something,  and 
supposed  that  each  of  them  would  give 


The  Man  of  the  People  29 

me  a  couple  of  bits.  The  trunks  were 
put  in  my  boat,  and  I  sculled  them  out  to 
the  steamer.  They  got  on  board,  and  I 
lifted  the  trunks  and  put  them  on  the 
deck.  The  steamer  was  about  to  put  on 
steam  again,  when  I  called  out,  'You  have 
forgotten  to  pay  me.'  Each  of  them  took 
from  his  pocket  a  silver  half-dollar  and 
threw  it  on  the  bottom  of  my  boat.  I 
could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes,  .  .  .  that  I, 
the  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar  in  less 
than  a  day.  ...  I  was  a  more  hopeful  and 
thoughtful  boy  from  that  time." 

The  leading  man  in  the  village  near 
where  Lincoln  lived  chose  Lincoln  as 
"bow  hand"  on  his  flatboat  bound  for 
New  Orleans.  This,  indeed,  was  a  big 
event  in  the  life  of  this  boy-man !  It  took 
him  away  from  the  neighborhood,  out  of 
the  company  of  the  "nobodies"  who  lived 
around  him. 

Mr.  Gentry,  for  it  was  he  that  hired  him, 
loaded  his  boat  with  corn,  flour,  pork, 
bacon,  and  other  things  which  he  could 
sell,  and  put  his  son  Allan  and  Lincoln  on 


jo  Abraham   Lincoln 

board  and  started  them  for  New  Orleans. 
Down  the  beautiful  Ohio  they  floated  until 
the  Mississippi  was  reached.  There  they 
noticed  changes  in  the  trees  and  birds. 
Here  and  there  a  settler's  clearing  broke 
the  dense  forest.  How  lonely  life  must 
have  been  in  those  solitary  cabins! 
Then  Memphis  was  not  the  large  city  of 
to-day,  but  was  made  up  of  a  few  scattered 
cabins.  At  times  Lincoln  saw  a  great 
puffing  steamboat  going  up  or  down  the 
river.  How  insignificant  seemed  their 
small  flatboat  compared  with  this  throb- 
bing giant  with  its  load  of  merchandise 
and  passengers! 

When  they  reached  Louisiana  they 
were  indeed  in  a  strange  region.  They 
saw  for  the  first  time  "live  oaks,"  and 
other  trees  all  festooned  with  gray-green 
moss,  as  if  some  one  had  hung  it  from 
branch  to  branch.  They  heard  strange 
tongues,  for  they  were  now  among  people 
some  of  whom  spoke  either  French  or 
Spanish. 

One  night,  after  the  boat  was  tied  up 


The  Man  of  the  People  31 

to  shore,  these  two  boys  were  set  upon 
by  a  gang  of  negroes,  coming  to  rob  them. 


v. 


A  courtyard  in  New  Orleans 


The  boys  leaped  from  their  bunks,  rushed 
out,  and  fell  upon  the  negroes.  Lincoln 
knocked  two  into  the  river,  young  Gentry 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

knocked  one  of  them  down,  and  the 
others,  frightened  by  the  fate  of  their 
companions,  took  to  their  heels.  The  boys 
cut  their  boat  loose  and  swung  out  into 
the  river,  where  they  could  not  be  reached 
easily. 

On  they  floated  until  New  Orleans  was 
in  view.  Here  were  strange  sights  indeed ! 
Here  they  beheld  a  city  situated  below  the 
river!  The  streets  were  below  the  great 
levees,  or  banks  of  earth,  which  had  been 
put  there  by  the  Government  to  protect 
the  city  from  the  river.  Scores  of  boats 
like  theirs  were  to  be  seen  at  the  wharves 
of  the  great  city.  Many  steamboats  also 
were  there,  some  loading  and  some  unload- 
ing their  cargoes.  The  boys  saw  that 
most  of  the  work  was  done  by  slaves. 

The  cargo  and  boat  both  sold,  the  boys 
returned  to  Indiana  on  a  steamboat. 
Mr.  Gentry  paid  Lincoln  eight  dollars  per 
month  and  his  passage  home  on  the 
steamboat.  How  can  we  tell  how  this 
trip  of  more  than  a  thousand  miles  may 
have  influenced  Lincoln's  life? 


The  Man  of  the  People  33 

Lincoln  Leaves  the  Indiana  Woods 
for  the  Illinois  Prairies 

A  few  years  after  Lincoln's  return 
from  this  voyage,  his  father  caught  the 
"fever' '  for  moving  to  Illinois.  John  Hanks 
had  already  gone,  and  had  written  letters 
back  to  Indiana  that  awoke 
in  Thomas  Lincoln  the  desire 
to  "move."  Of  course,  John 
Hanks  and  his  family  were 
lonesome,  and  longed  for  their 
relatives  and  friends  in  Indi-  whaie-oii  lamp 

from  the  Lincoln 

ana.  Besides,  here  were  great  log  cabin 
wide  prairies  with  the  richest  soil.  Along 
the  streams  were  the  finest  kinds  of  oak, 
maple,  walnut,  and  gum  trees.  If  Thomas 
Lincoln  would  come  to  Illinois,  John 
Hanks  would  choose  one  hundred  sixty 
acres  of  good  land  for  him,  and  would 
have  the  logs  already  cut  for  his  cabin. 

This  was  more  than  the  Lincolns  could 
stand!  They  decided  to  go.  There  were 
no  railroads  then,  no  bridges  across  the 
streams,  and 'no  canals  cut  through  the 


34  Abraham   Lincoln 

country.  They  rrmst  go  in  wagons  drawn 
by  oxen!  They  held  a  sale  to  get  rid  of 
those  things  they  did  not,  or  could  not, 
take  with  them.  The  neighbors  for  miles 
around  came  to  see  them  start  and  to 
say  good-by.  Many  a  boy  and  girl,  no 
doubt,  felt  sorry  to  say  "good-by"  to  the 
tall,  awkward,  but  kindly  young  fellow 
who  had  been  the  center  of  so  much  fun 
for  the  neighborhood. 

As  he  was  leaving  the  place  on  Pigeon 
Creek,  a  boy  planted  a  cedar  to  keep  alive 
the  memory  of  young  Lincoln.  Little  did 
he,  or  any  one  else,  think  that  this  would 
not  be  the  only  monument  to  the  memory 
of  Abraham  Lincoln! 

The  hurry  and  bustle  of  getting  started 
took  his  attention,  as  it  did  that  of  the 
others.  Abraham  was  just  the  one  to  drive 
the  four-ox  team  which  drew  his  father's 
wagon.  The  wagon  was  very  old-fashioned. 
The  wheels  had  no  hubs,  no  spokes,  and 
no  tires,  for  they  were  made  from  rounded 
blocks  of  wood  sawed  from  the  end  of 
some  oak  or  maple  tree.  A  hole  was  made 


The  Man  of  the  People  55 

in  the  center  for  the  axle  of  the  wagon  to 
rest  in.  The  patient  oxen  were  driven 
without  lines.  They  obeyed  Abraham's 
voice  and  the  motion  of  the  whip  every 
ox  driver  was  sure  to  carry. 

On  they  went,  crossing  creeks  and  rivers, 
through  the  woods  and  out  upon  the  broad 
prairies.  At  nighttime  they  camped,  if 
possible,  where  there  was  plenty  of  wood 
and  water.  They  cooked  their  meals  of 
bacon  and  corn  bread  by  the  fire.  When 
the  meal  was  over,  they  sat  around  the 
fire  and  told  stories,  and  then  the  women 
climbed  into  the  wagon  to  find  a  bed. 
But  the  men,  rolled  in  bearskins  or  other 
covering,  slept  before  the  fire.  Meantime 
the  oxen  had  been  tied  with  long  ropes  to 
enable  them  to  graze,  and  to  keep  them 
from  straying  too  far. 

They  made  for  the  poorer  timber  lands 
on  the  Sangamon  River,  where  they  found 
that  John  Hanks  had  kept  his  word,  and 
the  logs  were  cut  for  the  cabin. 

They  settled  in  Macon  County,  ten  miles 
west  of  Decatur.  Here  young  Lincoln  cut 


36  Abraham   Lincoln 

and  split  rails  enough  to  fence  ten  acres  of 
land.  Corn  was  planted  and  "tended" '  and 
the  crop  harvested  during  the  first  season. 
When  the  summer  of  1830  came  around 
Lincoln  was  past  twenty-one.  He  had, 
up  to  this  time,  turned  his  money  over  to 
his  father.  Now  he  meant  to  work  for 
himself.  The  first  work  he  must  do  was 
to  get  himself  a  pair  of  trousers,  for  his  old 
ones  were  about  worn  out.  He  engaged 
to  split  four  hundred  rails  for  every  yard 
of  cloth,  colored  a  butternut  brown, 
which  it  took  to  make  him  a  pair  of 
trousers.  It  took  fourteen  hundred  rails 
to  pay  for  the  trousers ! 

The  Second  Trip  to  New  Orleans 

Lincoln  had  become  acquainted  with  a 
trader  named  Offutt,  who  talked  a  great 
deal  of  the  things  he  expected  to  do. 
Lincoln,  John  Hanks,  and  John  Johnston 
hired  out  to  Offutt  to  take  a  flatboat 
laden  with  provisions  to  New  Orleans. 

They  got    a  large  canoe  and   floated 


The  Man  of  the  People 


37 


down  the  Sangamon  River  to  the  place 
where  Jamestown  now  stands,  then  walked 
to  Springfield,  where  they  were  to  meet 


Model  of  Lincoln's  device  for  lifting  vessels  over  shoals 

Offutt.  He  had  bad  news:  he  could  get 
no  flatboat  at  Beardstown,  the  place 
from  which  they  expected  to  begin  their 
journey.  Lincoln  promptly  said:  "Let 
us  make  one."  He  could  use  tools  and 
had  studied  the  plan  of  a  flatboat  when 
he  had  taken  a  trip  to  New  Orleans  before. 
The  bargain  was  struck.  A  "shanty"  was 
built  on  the  river  bank,  in  which  the  men 
slept  and  cooked  and  ate  their  meals. 
Lincoln  took  the  lead  as  head  carpenter. 

In  April  the  boat  was  loaded  and  the 
boatmen  bade  good-by  to  the  rustic  crowd 
that  gathered  to  see  them  off.  They 
"poled"  their  way  down  the  Sangamon 
until  New  Salem  was  reached.  Here  a 


73117 


38  Abraham   Lincoln 

milldam  had  been  built,  and  on  this  dam 
the  flatboat  stuck  fast.  They  could  neither 
push  it  over  nor  draw  it  back.  A  crowd 
gathered  and  watched  the  men  trying  to 
move  the  boat.  Some  of  them  laughed  at 
one  of  the  crew,  tall,  gaunt,  and  ugly,  with 
ragged  coat  and  battered  hat.  His  trousers 
were  torn  and  patched.  He  made  rather  a 
forlorn  picture.  A  few  of  the  crowd  were 
bold  enough  to  offer  their  advice,  but  no 
attention  was  paid  to  it.  Lincoln  thought 
the  matter  over  and  finally  decided  what 
should  be  done.  The  men  agreed,  and 
went  to  work  at  the  boat.  It  finally 
moved  over  the  dam  in  safety,  and  the 
crew  "poled"  on  their  way  and  left  the 
crowd  wondering  about  the  awkward  and 
overgrown  fellow. 

On  they  went,  down  the  Illinois  to  the 
Mississippi  and  down  that  river  until 
New  Orleans  was  reached.  Lincoln  must 
have  tied  the  boat  up  where  lay  many 
other  such  boats,  and  where  there  were 
hundreds  of  flatboatmen  from  the  "up 
country."  New  Orleans  was  growing 


The  Man  of  the  People  39 

rapidly,  and  had  many  interesting  sights 
for  young  Lincoln's  eyes. 

One  day  he  came  upon  a  negro  auction. 
It  was  indeed  a  new  and  a  sad  sight  for 


The  house  Lincoln  helped  his  father  build  in  Coles  County 

Lincoln.  It  is  told  that  after  looking  at 
this  scene  for  a  time,  he  said:  "Boys,  let's 
get  away  from  this.  If  ever  I  get  a 
chance  to  hit  that  thing,  I'll  hit  it  hard!" 
From  New  Orleans,  Lincoln  and  his 
companions  took  passage  on  a  noisy, 
puffing  steamboat  for  St.  Louis.  From 
St.  Louis,  Lincoln  walked  all  the  way  to 
Coles  County,  Illinois,  where  his  father's 
family  had  already  gone.  He  helped  his 
father  in  building  the  best  house  he  had 


40  Abraham   Lincoln 

ever  lived  in.  It  was  made  of  "hewn" 
logs  and  contained  two  rooms.  This  was 
the  last  time  Lincoln  saw  his  father. 

Clerk  in  a  Country  Store 

From  Coles  County,  Lincoln  went  to 
New  Salem,  where  he  had  agreed  to  become 
a  clerk  in  a  store  owned  by  Offutt.  But, 


Copyright  bj  Fnncli  D.  Tandy  Company.  New  York 

Interior  of  the  Lincoln  cabin  at  Goose  Neck  Prairie,  Illinois 

as  usual,  Offutt  had  done  more  bragging 
than  work,  and  neither  Offutt  nor  the 
"store  things"  had  come. 


The  Man  of  the  People  41 

Lincoln  had  to  wait.  This  meant  that 
he  had  plenty  of  time  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  villagers,  about  one  hundred  in 
all.  The  crowd  remembered  Lincoln  as 
that  queer  fellow  who  had  got  Offutt's 
flatboat  over  the  dam  while  they  were 
laughing  at  the  crew.  Now  Lincoln  had 
a  chance  to  show  what  he  could  do  in  a 
very  different  way.  An  election  was  to 
be  held  in  the  town  of  New  Salem.  One 
of  the  clerks  was  sick.  Lincoln  was 
asked  if  he  could  write.  He  said  that  he 
"could  make  a  few  rabbit  tracks."  At 
that  time  not  many  people  in  New  Salem 
could  write,  so  "rabbit  tracks"  were  good 
enough.  Lincoln  was  "sworn  in."  Every 
voter  came  up  to  the  table  where  the 
judges  and  the  clerks  sat  with  a  poll 
book  before  them.  The  voter  told  them 
for  whom  he  wished  to  vote.  His  vote 
was  then  written  down,  and  then  another 
voter  came.  When  voting  became  slow 
Lincoln  entertained  the  crowd  with  his 
droll  stories. 

Offutt's   goods    came,    and   the  young 


42  Abraham,   Lincoln 

flatboatman  took  his  place  in  the  store. 
Offutt  added  a  mill  to  his  business 
and  put  Lincoln  in  full  charge  of  both 
store  and  mill.  He  had  full  confidence 


After  a  painting  in  the  State  Capitol  at  Springfield 

A  view  of  New  Salem 

in  Lincoln's  honesty.  The  people  who 
traded  with  him  learned  to  believe  in  him. 
One  evening,  so  the  story  runs,  as  Lincoln 
was  putting  the  shutters  on,  a  woman 
came  in  and  bought  half  a  pound  of  tea. 
The  next  morning  Lincoln  was  surprised 
to  see  from  the  weights  on  the  scale  that 
he  had  given  the  woman  a  quarter  of  a 


The  Man  of  the  People  43 

pound  instead  of  what  she  had  called  for- 
He  closed  the  store  and  carried  her  the 
quarter  of  a  pound  of  tea.  He  could  not 
rest  until  he  had  made  it  right  with  the 
woman. 

The  store  became  a  meeting  place  for 
young  and  old.  Here  met  the  men  from 
the  town  and  the  men  from  the  country. 
They  talked  over  the  news  of  the  day. 
Now  and  then  they  told  stories,  but  more 
often  they  sat  in  open-mouthed  wonder 
while  Lincoln  told  one  of  his  stories. 
Lincoln  learned  a  great  deal  from  the 
crowd  of  happy  loungers  that  came  to 
Offutt's  store,  some  of  it  useful  and  some 
not.  But  it  was  a  strange  thing  to  see 
Lincoln  joining  in  the  fun  and  laughter 
of  that  rude  crowd  without  himself  being 
made  ruder  and  coarser  by  it. 

Offutt  was  proud  of  his  big  clerk.  He 
declared  one  day  that  Lincoln  could  "lift 
more  than  any  other  man  in  Sangamon 
County,  and  when  it  came  to  wrestling, 
he  could  throw  the  whole  crowd."  Just 
like  boys,  there  were  a  number  of  young 


44 


Abraham   Lincoln 


men  who  took  Offutt's  words  as  a 
challenge.  These  young  fellows  were 
called  the  "Clary's  Grove 
Boys."  They  were  a  rough 
lot,  and  kept  the  village 
from  becoming  too  sleepy. 
They  told  the  storekeeper  to 
"trot  out"  his  big  clerk  and 
he  would  find  Jack  Arm- 
strong a  match  for  him. 
Lincoln  -did  not  wish  to 
wrestle.  He  probably  felt 
better  things  were  in  store 
for  him.  But  there  was  no 
escape.  If  he  did  not  do  it 
the  entire  country  round 
about  New  Salem  would  believe  that 
he  was  afraid  of  Jack  Armstrong. 

The  day  was  set,  and  Clary's  Grove 
was  against  New  Salem.  Most  of  the 
fellows  took  Jack  Armstrong's  side.  They 
knew  what  he  could  do.  But  when  the 
wrestlers  took  hold,  Jack  Armstrong  had 
met  his  master.  Do  all  he  could,  he  could 
not  throw  Lincoln.  He  tried  the  tricks 


A  matron  of  New 

Salem,  showing  the 

leghorn  bonnet 

worn  in 
Lincoln's  day 


The  Man  of  the  People       .         45 

that  had  won  him  so  many  victories,  but 
all  in  vain.  Finally  he  was  put  to  it  so 
hard  that  he  tried  a  "foul."  This  act 
made  Lincoln  angry.  He  caught  Arm- 
strong by  the  throat  and,  with  his  long 
arms,  "shook  him  like  a  child." 

When  the  wrestling  match  was  over  Jack 
Armstrong  grasped  Lincoln's  hand  and 
declared  that  he  was  the  "best  fellow  who 
ever  broke  into  the  camp."  The  "Clary's 
Grove  Boys"  liked  Lincoln  because  he 
did  not  "crow"  over  his  victory.  He  had 
won  his  way  to  their  hearts,  and  ever 
afterwards  they  were  his  true  friends. 

But  better  than  clerking  in  the  store, 
and  far  better  than  practicing  the  art 
of  wrestling,  Lincoln  loved  learning.  A 
friend  told  him  about  grammar,  and  said 
he  ought  to  study  it  if  he  was  going  to 
appear  before  the  public.  Lincoln  had 
already  made  a  number  of  speeches. 

When  his  friend  told  him  there  was  but 
one  grammar  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
that  was  six  miles  away,  Lincoln  walked 
the  whole  distance  and  obtained  the  book. 


46  Abraham   Lincoln 

From  now  on  he  gave  much  time  to  study- 
ing grammar.  He  often  handed  the  book 
to  a  friend  to  hold  while  he  recited 
definitions  and  rules.  When  he  was  not 


Prom  the  "  Menard-Salem.Lmooln  Souvenir  Album," 

A  New  Salem  interior,  showing  the  furniture  and  costumes 
of  Lincoln's  time 

sure  of  the  meaning  he  called  in  the 
school  teacher.  Lincoln  learned  grammar 
not  only  to  know  it,  but  to  use  it.  He 
was  putting  what  he  learned  into  practice. 
But  the  store  was  "petering  out,"  to  use 
Lincoln's  own  words.  Its  owner  owed 
more  than  he  could  pay,  and  the  store  was 


The  Man  of  the  People  47 

"closed  up."     Lincoln  was  out  of  a  job, 
but  he  soon  found  something  to  do. 

He  was  without  doubt  the  most  popular 
man  in  New  Salem.  He  was  only  a  little 
more  than  twenty-two  years  old,  yet  he 
had  really  thought  of  asking  the  peo- 
ple to  vote  for  him  to  help  make  their 
laws,  that  is,  to  elect  him  to  the  State 
Legislature.  His  friends  encouraged  him 
and  we  may  suppose  that  the  "Clary's 
Grove  Boys"  were  for  Lincoln. 

He  printed  a  statement  declaring  that 
he  was  in  favor  of  making  their  own  river, 
the  Sangamon,  fit  for  steamboats,  and  in 
favor  of  putting  a  stop  to  charging  high 
rates  of  interest  by  passing  a  law  against 
it.  On  the  question  of  education,  he  said  • 
"I  can  only  say  that  I  view  it  as  the 
most  important  subject  which  we  as  a 
people  can  be  engaged  in."  He  asked 
the  people  to  overlook  his  youth,  and 
declared  that  he  had  spoken  the  truth. 

Not  long  after  Lincoln  had  sent  out  these 
handbills,  the  people  of  his  county  were 
excited  by  the  news  that  a  steamboat 


4&  Abraham   Lincoln 

from  Cincinnati  intended  to  bring  a  load 
of  goods  up  the  Sangamon  River.  This 
was  good  news.  Meetings  were  held  at 
towns  on  the  river  to  make  plans  for 
the  coming  of  the  steamboat.  Finally 
word  came  that  the  boat  was  on  its  way. 
Lincoln  went  down  the  river  to  Beards- 
town  to  meet  it.  He  was  made  pilot  to 
guide  the  boat  the  rest  of  the  way  up,  for 
he  knew  more  about  the  river  than  most 
men.  At  every  stop  the  boat  made  there 
was  great  shouting.  Speeches  were  made, 
toasts  were  drunk,  and  in  every  way  the 
people  showed  how  happy  they  were.  But 
the  happiest  man  was  Lincoln.  Was  not 
this  steamboat  proving  that  the  Sanga- 
mon could  be  made  fit  for  boats  which 
could  carry  what  they  raised  to  market, 
and  brng  goods  to  them  from  the  great 
cities  of  the  world?  After  a  week  had 
gone  by  the  boat  started  down  the  river. 
In  the  meantime  the  "high  water"  had 
run  out  and  Lincoln  had  a  harder  time 
to  get  the  boat  down  the  river  than  he 
had  had  to  get  it  up. 


The  Man  of  the  People  $g 

Captain  Lincoln 

Hardly  had  Lincoln  returned  from  his 
work  as  pilot,  when  all  of  Illinois  was 
stirred  by  the  news  of  Black 
Hawk's  war.  Black  Hawk  was 
an  Indian  chief.  He  had  a 
bad  name  among  the  frontier 
whites. 

The  governor  called  the 
men  of  the  state  to  arms,  and 
Lincoln  and  the  boys  of  New 
Salem  started  immediately  to 
the  place  of  meeting.  Only 
a  part  of  them  had  rifles.  No 
one  had  a  regular  uniform,  but 
some  had  deerskin  breeches  Anofficerinthe 
and  a  few  wore  coonskin  caps.  Black  Hawk 
Every  man  had  come  to  .fight  the  In- 
dians !  They  must  have  a  captain.  There 
on  that  village  green  at  Richland,  Illi- 
nois, were  two  persons  who  wanted  to  be 
captain.  One  was  Lincoln.  Already  he 
felt  that  he  was  going  to  be  a  "master 
of  men."  The  men  who  wanted  to  be 

4 


Choosing  Lincoln  captain 


The  Man  of  the  People 


captain  stepped  to  different  parts  of  the 
ground,  and  the  other  men  immediately 
flocked  around  their  favor- 
ites. Lincoln  was  greatly 
surprised  and  pleased  to  find 
that  three  fourths  of  the 
"boys"  were  on  his  side.  We 
may  be  sure  that  the  "Clary's 
Grove  Boys"  were  among  the 
first  to  go  to  Lincoln's  side. 
This  was  probably  the  first 
time  any  part  of  the  people 
had  a  chance  to  show  their 

Powder  horn,  knife. 

love  for  young  Lincoln.   Long     and  tomahawk 

J  °          used  in  the 

afterwards  he   declared,    "I   Black  Hawk  war 
have  not  had  any  success  in   life  which 
gave  me  so  much  satisfaction." 

Very  little  did  Lincoln  know  about  army 
rules.  The  men  obeyed  him  because  they 
admired  him.  But  in  this  campaign 
against  the  Indians  some  of  Lincoln's 
qualities  were  brought  out  strongly.  One 
day  an  old,  friendly  Indian  came  into 
Lincoln's  camp  bearing  a  letter  from 
General  Lewis  Cass.  The  very  sight  of  ar 


52  Abraham  Lincoln 

Indian  set  the  soldiers  on  fire.  They  were 
for  killing  him  right  off,  and  started  after 
him.  Lincoln  saw  he  must  be  quick,  and 
sprang  between  the  Indian  and  the  men, 
declaring  that  he  would  shoot  the  first 
man  who  laid  hands  on  him. 

But  it  was  around  the  camp  fire  that 
Captain  Lincoln  was  at  his  best.  He  told 
the  soldiers  many  quaint  tales,  and  won 
a  name  as  a  joker.  This  bit  of  military 
life  gave  Lincoln  a  wider  view  of  men  and 
things.  He  saw  regular  soldiers,  how  they 
were  uniformed,  drilled,  and  armed.  At 
the  same  time  he  became  acquainted  with 
men  from  different  parts  of  the  state. 

Trying  to  Get  Office 

Lincoln  got  back  to  New  Salem  only  a 
few  days  before  the  election  which  he  was 
getting  ready  for  when  the  Black  Hawk 
War  broke  out.  The  men  who  had  been 
in  Lincoln's  company  and  the  men  who 
knew  him  at  New  Salem  were  working 
*btard  to  get  him  votes. 


The  Man  of  the  People  5J 

Only  a  few  chances  came  to  Lincoln  to 
speak  to  the  voters.  He  heard  of  a  sale 
several  miles  away.  He  knew  that  nearly 
every  one  went  to  a  sale  in  those  days, 
and  he  knew  candidates  for  office  would  be 
there.  Lincoln  went,  too,  a  tall  young 
man,  wearing  a  blue  jeans,  claw  hammer, 
bobtail  coat,  tow-and-wool  trousers,  cow- 
hide boots,  and  a  straw  hat! 

When  Lincoln's  time  came  to  speak  he 
said:  "Gentlemen  and  Fellow-citizens,  I 
presume  you  all  know  who  I  am.  I  am 
humble  Abraham  Lincoln.  .  .  .  My 
politics  are  short  and  sweet,  like  the  old 
woman's  dance.  ...  If  elected,  I  shall 
be  thankful;  if  not,  it  will  be  all  the 
same." 

While  he  was  speaking,  a  drunken  fellow 
began  quarreling  with  one  of  Lincoln's 
friends.  Lincoln  sprang  from  the  plat- 
form, seized  the  bully  by  the  neck,  and 
threw  him  out  of  the  crowd.  Then  he 
returned  to  the  stand,  and  continued 
speaking  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

The  people  of  Illinois  were  dividing  into 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 

two  parties — the  Democratic  and  the 
Whig.  Those  who  shouted  for  a  great 
soldier,  Andrew  Jackson,  who  had  already 
been  President  once,  were  Democrats. 
Those  who  followed  the  teachings  of 
another  great  man,  Henry  Clay,  were 
called  Whigs.  The  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  Illinois  were  for  Jackson.  But 
Lincoln  was  a  Whig,  whose  idol  was 
Henry  Clay.  He  had  small  chance  of 
being  elected,  for  he  was  not  yet  widely 
known. 

Lincoln  was  defeated,  the  only  time  in 
his  life  when  the  people  voted.  But  in 
New  Salem  he  won  two  hundred  seventy- 
seven  votes  out  of  three  hundred! 

Lincoln's  National  Debt 

Offutt's  store  had  failed  and  Lincoln 
had  nothing  to  do.  He  felt  then  that 
he  must  meet  and  talk  with  men. 
Books  and  men  were  to  be  his  compan- 
ions. He  joined  with  a  young  man  named 
Berry,  and  bought  a  store  in  New  Salem. 


The  Man  of  the  People 


55 


Berry  was  no  richer  than  Lincoln,  so 
they  went  in  debt  for  the  store.  There 
were  two  other  stores  in  the  village.  Lin- 
coln and  Berry  bought  them  out  in  the 
same  way — by  promising  to  pay! 


Berry  and  Lincoln's  store  as  it  looked  in  1805        / 

One  day  a  man  moving  West  sold  Lin- 
coln a  barrel.  In  that  barrel  filled  with 
rubbish  Lincoln  found  a  copy  of  that  great 
law  book,  Blackstone's  Commentaries. 
During  the  long  summer  days,  when  the 
farmers  were  busy  at  home  and  customers 


56  Abraham  Lincoln 

were  few,  Lincoln  was  busy  with  his  Black- 
stone.  He  lay  in  the  shade  of  a  large  tree 
near  the  store,  and  read  to  his  heart's  con- 
tent. Unfortunately,  Berry  was  "busy" 
in  the  back  end  of  the  store,  where  strong 
drink  was  kept ! 

Berry  drank  and  Lincoln  read!  The 
storekeeping  was  a  failure.  They  sold 
out.  The  men  gave  their  note  just  as 
Berry  and  Lincoln  had  done.  Pretty 
soon  the  new  storekeepers  ran  away,  and 
Berry  died.  Lincoln  had  to  shoulder  the 
entire  debt.  He  told  the  men  whom  he 
owed  that  he  had  no  money,  but  that  they 
should  have  it  as  soon  as  he  could  get  it. 
It  was  a  mountain  of  debt  to  that  poor 
young  man.  He  called  it  his  "national 
debt,"  by  way  of  a  joke.  But  it  was  no 
joke  for  a  poor  young  man  to  pay  out 
a  thousand  dollars  in  a  country  where 
money  was  scarce.  He  paid  every  cent 
of  it — interest  and  all.  It  took  him  seven- 
teen years  to  do  it!  What  a  burden  to 
hang  over  one  like  a  cloud!  After  that 
people  called  him  "Honest  Abe." 


The  Man  of  the  People  57 

Two  Offices  Given  Lincoln  by 
the  Democrats 

Before  he  was  out  of  the  store  Lincoln's 
friends  asked  President  Jackson  to  make 
him  postmaster  at  New  Salem.  The  Presi- 
dent and  many  of  Lincoln's  friends  were 
Democrats,  but  this  made  no  difference. 
Being  postmaster  was  not  a  big  office,  and 
it  gave  Lincoln  time  to  read  and  study. 
It  is  said  that  he  "carried  the  post  office 
in  his  hat."  When  he  met  a  person  for 
whom  he  had  a  letter  Lincoln  took  off 
his  hat  and  handed  him  the  letter.  When 
he  went  about  the  country  he  took  the 
mail  in  his  hat,  and  as  he  passed  the 
cabins  he  handed  it  out.  He  was  a  sort 
of  first  Rural  Free  Delivery. 

Pretty  soon  a  better  chance  came  to 
him.  The  surveyor  of  Sangamon  County 
found  he  needed  help.  He  sent  word  to 
Lincoln  that  he  wanted  him  as  deputy 
surveyor.  Lincoln  talked  the  matter 
over  with  the  man  and  said  he  would 
take  the  position  if  he  did  not  have  to 


5#  Abraham  Lincoln 

change  his  politics!  The  surveyor  was  a 
Democrat;  Lincoln  was  a  Whig.  It  was 
agreed.  But  Lincoln  knew  nothing  about 
surveying.  He  obtained  a  book  on  sur- 
veying and  began  the  work  of  mastering 
it.  Day  and  night  he  studied,  sometimes 


Lincoln's  surveying  instruments 

until  early  morning  hours.  He  called  upon 
his  friend  the  school  teacher  for  help.  In 
a  few  weeks  he  reported  for  business. 

For  every  day's  work  as  surveyor  he 
received  three  dollars.  A  princely  sum! 
He  had  never  earned  so  much  money 
for  a  day's  work  before.  One  great  use 
to  which  he  put  his  work  as  surveyor 
was  to  get  acquainted  with  people. 

While  he  was  acting  as  postmaster  and 
surveyor,  Lincoln  never  failed  to  do  ?. 
kind  deed  when  he  saw  a  chance.  The 
people  of  New  Salem  said  Lincoln  war 
"obliging."  The  children  of  the  neighbor 
hood  all  loved  him. 


The  Man  of  the  People  59 

Hannah,  wife  of  Jack  Armstrong,  treated 
Lincoln  like  one  of  her  family.  "Abe 
would  come  out  to  our  house,  drink  milk, 
eat  mush,  corn  bread  and  butter,  bring 
the  children  candy,  and  rock  the  cradle 
while  I  got  him  something  to  eat." 

It  was  but  a  short  time  before  Lincoln 
had  to  have  a  horse.  The  surveyors  had  to 
go  long  distances.  But 
Lincoln  had  no  money. 
How  was  he  to  get  a 
horse  without  money  ? 
He  bought  one  on  credit  Lincoln's  S0ddiebags 
and  promised  to  pay  at  some  future  time. 
He  obtained  a  pair  of  saddlebags,  in 
which  he  carried  a  compass,  a  chain,  his 
surveying  books,  and  other  useful  things. 

But  the  man  grew  tired  of  waiting  for 
his  money,  so  one  day  an  officer  of  the 
law  stopped  Lincoln,  seized  the  horse, 
and  was  bound  to  have  the  money.  But 
Lincoln  could  not  pay.  He  was  hardly 
able  to  find  money  for  his  board,  and  to 
keep  himself  in  decent  clothes.  A  friend 
came  to  his  rescue,  paid  for  the  horse,  and 


60  Abraham  Lincoln 

turned  him  over  to  Lincoln.  So  it  was 
that  Lincoln  found  friends  at  every  turn. 
Lincoln  never  forgot  this  act  of  friend- 
ship. Years  afterward,  when  he  was 
President  and  this  old  friend  was  living 
in  California,  he  received  a  letter  from 
Lincoln  naming  him  for  an  office  with  a 
good  salary. 

Elected  to  the  State  Legislature 

Two  years  had  gone  by  since  Lincoln's 
defeat.  He  had  made  many  friends  in 
that  time.  They  encouraged  young  Lin- 
coln, and  he  finally  told  the  people  that 
he  wanted  their  support  for  the  State 
Legislature. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  he 
went  to  all  house  raisings,  horse  races, 
shooting  matches,  sales,  or  auctions  as 
we  would  say,  wherever  the  people  came 
together.  This  was  just  the  sort  of  thing 
he  liked  best.  He  could  be  a  judge  at  a 
horse  race,  make  a  speech  on  the  Con- 
stitution, act  as  peacemaker  between  two 


The  Man  of  the  People  61 

quarreling  fellows  in  such  a  way  as  to 
leave  them  both  thinking  him  the  fairest 
and  most  honest  man  in  the  county. 

Lincoln's  great  strength,  long  reach  of 
arm,  and  still  longer  legs,  made  him  a 
great  favorite  in  running,  jumping,  or 
wrestling.  An  old  farmer  has  left  us  a 
story  of  the  way  Lincoln  won  votes.  "Pie 
came  to  my  house  .  .  .  during  harvest," 
says  the  farmer.  "There  were  some  thirty 
men  in  the  field.  He  got  his  dinner  and 
went  out  in  the  field  where  the  men 
were  at  work.  I  gave  him  an  introduc- 
tion, and  the  boys  said  that  they  could  not 
vote  for  a  man  unless  he  could  make  a 
hand.  'Well,  boys,'  said  he,  'if  that  is  all, 
I  am  sure  of  your  votes.'  He  took  hold 
of  the  cradle,  and  led  the  way  all  the 
round  with  perfect  ease.  The  boys  were 
satisfied,  and  I  don't  think  he  lost  a  vote 
in  the  crowd." 

When  the  votes  were  counted,  Lincoln 
was  elected.  He  stood  next  to  the  high- 
est on  the  list.  The  people  had  stood 
by  him. 


62 


Abraham  Lincoln 


When  Abraham  Lincoln  went  to  the 
town  of  Vandalia,  the  meeting  place  of  the 
Legislature,  he  crossed  a  new  line  in  life. 
He  was  still  the  same  simple,  unpretend- 


The  State  House  at  Vandalia 

ing  young  man.  He  was  still  poor,  and 
had  to  struggle.  But  he  began  in  that 
Legislature  to  know,  and  to  be  known 
by,  a  different  set  of  men.  A  great 
future  was  before  him.  Now  indeed  began 
a  new  world  for  Lincoln.  But  he  never 
forgot  his  old  friends,  made  in  the  days 
when  he  was  young  and  most  in  need  of 
friends.  He  never  lost  his  love  for  children. 


The  Man  of  the  People  63 

His  home  for  many  years  had  been  in  the 
woods,  and  New  Salem  was  not  much 
better.  He  had  never  before  lived  where 
there  was  a  church.  Vandalia  was  not  a 
large  town,  but  it  was  the  meeting  place 
of  the  Legislature.  There  he  met  some 
men  who  were  already  great  men  in  the 
opinion  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  the  gover- 
nor, a  few  judges,  and  still  fewer  members 
of  the  Legislature.  Here  Lincoln  met 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  first  time,  and 
little  did  he  think  that  the  "smallest  man 
he  ever  saw"  was  the  one  man  who  was  to 
be  his  greatest  opponent  in  the  battles  of 
the  future.  From  this  time  on,  to  the 
end  of  Douglas'  life,  first  at  long  intervals 
but  later  more  frequently,  they  continued 
to  meet,  and  a  fierce  struggle  was  fought 
between  these  two  men. 

Lincoln  did  not  push  himself  to  the 
front  at  Vandalia,  but  modestly  kept  a 
back  seat.  He  learned  a  great  deal  from 
seeing  how  different  men  fought  for  their 
bills  before  the  House. 

There    was    one    thing    in    which    he 


6 ~4  Abraham  Lincoln 

was  already  experienced — shaking  hands. 
When  Lincoln  took  a  man's  hand  in  his 
he  made  that  man  feel  that  Lincoln's 
whole  heart  was  in  the  greeting. 

In  still  another  way  Lincoln  was  the 
equal  of  any  man  in  Vandalia.  That  was 
in  his  great  power  as  a  story-teller.  We 
have  noted  this  power  in  his  boyhood. 
What  holds  young  and  old  alike  so  well  as 
a  good  story !  When  not  at  work  making 
lav/s,  Lincoln  usually  had  a  crowd  around 
him  to  whom  he  was  telling  some  story. 

Lincoln  Re'elected  a  Second,  a 
Third,  and  a  Fourth  Time 

When  the  time  came,  again  Lincoln  was 
a  candidate  for  the  State  Legislature. 
He  had  a  still  better  chance  of  winning  in 
the  election,  because  he  was  more  widely 
known.  But  he  had  to  take  the  same 
steps  as  before- — to  tell  the  people  what  his 
principles  were,  to  make  stump  speeches, 
to  shake  hands  with  everybody,  and  to  be 
polite  to  the  ladies. 


The  Man  of  the  People  65 

After  the  voting  was  over  it  was  found 
that  Sangamon  County  had  elected  nine 
members  to  the  Legislature,  all  Whigs! 
Lincoln  led  all  the  others.  It  was  a  time 


The  Capitol  at  Springfield 


of  great  excitement  in  the  Legislature. 
Lincoln  voted  with  the  majority  for  im- 
proving the  rivers  and  building  canals. 

But  most  of  Lincoln's  attention  was 
given  to  a  measure  for  changing  the 
capital  from  Vandalia  to  Springfield,  in 
Lincoln's  own  county.  The  measure  was 


66  Abraham  Lincoln 

passed,  and  the  people  of  Sangamon 
County  believed  in  him  more  than  ever. 

At  this  time  the  slavery  question  was 
being  discussed  in  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  The  Abolitionists  were  a  small 
body  of  men  who  were  bound  to  stir  up 
the  people  over  the  slavery  question. 
At  that  time  the  great  majority  of  people 
hated  the  Abolitionists.  In  many  parts 
of  the  North  mobs  tried  to  scare  the 
Abolitionists,  and  in  Illinois  itself  a  mob 
had  murdered  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy  while  he 
was  defending  his  newspaper.  The  Legis- 
lature of  Illinois  took  up  the  question  and 
bitterly  denounced  the  Abolitionists. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  then  only  twenty- 
eight  years  old,  with  another  member 
signed  a  protest  against  this  action  of  the 
Legislature.  These  two  men  were  not 
Abolitionists,  for  they  thought  the  Aboli- 
tionists did  more  harm  than  good.  But 
they  declared  that  "slavery  is  founded  on 
both  injustice  and  bad  policy."  Just  two 
men,  among  the  whole  body  of  the  Legis- 
lature, were  bold  enough  to  stand  out 


The  Man  of  the  People  67 

from  the  rest  and  declare  slavery  wrong — 
a  double  wrong.  For  the  sake  of  being 
in  the  right  Lincoln  did  not  fear  public 
opinion.  This  protest  against  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  Illinois  Legislature  was  signed 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  before 
slavery  was  abolished. 

Once  more  he  ran  for  the  Legislature. 
The  man  who  ran  against  him  was  named 
Taylor.  While  making  a  speech  before  a 
large  crowd,  Taylor  had  said  that  Demo- 
crats were  poor  men,  while  Whigs  were  rich 
and  lived  in  fine  houses. 

When  Lincoln's  turn  came,  he  said: 
"My  opponent  accuses  the  Whigs  of  rid- 
ing in  fine  carriages  and  wearing  ruffled 
shirts,  kid  gloves,  and  gold  watch  chains. 
Well,  I  was  once  a  poor  boy  and  worked 
on  a  flatboat  for  eight  dollars  a  month 
and  had  only  a  pair  of  buckskin  breeches. 
Now  if  you  call  that  aristocracy,  I  plead  to 
the  charge."  Lincoln  knew  that  Taylor 
was  trying  to  fool  the  people,  so  while 
speaking,  with  a  sweep  of  his  long  arm  he 
caught  Taylor's  vest,  jerked  it  open,  and 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  people  saw  a  ruffled  shirt  and  a  gold 
chain!  They  roared  with  laughter,  and 
Taylor,  red  in  the  face,  left  the  stand. 
Lincoln  was  elected. 

Lincoln  hated  shams  and  loved  fair  play. 
In  Springfield  he  had  his  law  office  above 
a  hall.  One  evening  his  friend  Baker  was 
making  a  Whig  speech  in  this  hall.  Lin- 
coln was  in  his  law  office  above.  He 
lifted  the  trapdoor  in  order  to  hear  Baker 
speak.  Baker  said  something  that  made 
the  Democrats  in  the  crowd  very  angry. 
"Pull  him  down!  Put  him  out!"  they 
cried,  and  started  for  the  platform.  Just 
then  they  saw  the  legs,  then  the  body,  and 
finally  the  head  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
dropping  down  from  above  on  to  the 
platform  by  the  side  of  Baker.  He 
raised  a  hand,  but  the  men  were  angry 
and  did  not  stop.  They  saw  him  seize  a 
stone  pitcher,  and  heard  him  say:  "I 
will  break  this  over  the  head  of  the  first 
man  who  lays  a  hand  on  Baker.  Hold  on, 
gentlemen !  This  is  a  free  country,  a  land 
of  free  speech.  Mr.  Baker  has  a  right  to 


The  Man  of  the  People 


69 


be  neard,  and  I  am  here  to  protect  him!" 
The  crowd  drew  back,  and  Baker  finished 
his  speech. 

Lincoln's  last  campaign  for  the  Legis- 
lature was  very  different  from  the  others. 


A   Whig  campaign  parade 

It  was  a  national  campaign — one  for  the 
election  of  a  President  for  the  United 
States. 

Martin  Van  Buren,  of  New  York,  was 
the  candidate  of  the  Democrats,  and 
General  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  of  the  Whigs. 
Hundreds  of  orators  went  about  the 
country  speaking  to  great  crowds  of  peo- 
ple, sometimes  as  many  as  fifty  thousand, 
sometimes  one  hundred  thousand. 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  Whigs  had  the  largest  meetings. 
Great  wagons  drawn  by  many  horses  were 
filled  with  young  women.  In  the  parades 
were  log  cabins,  such  as  General  Harrison 
had  lived  in.  Coon  skins  were  stretched 
on  the  cabin  doors.  Sometimes  a  live 
coon  would  be  seen  sitting  on  the  top  of 
a  cabin.  There  were  barrels  of  cider,  and 
big  balls  rolling  on  to  victory.  There  were 
barbecues,  where  they  roasted  oxen,  sheep, 
and  pigs,  to  feed  the  hungry  crowds. 

A  monster  meeting  was  held  by  the 
Whigs  in  Springfield.  Twenty  thousand 
people  came  to  town  that  day.  It  took 
fourteen  teams  of  horses  to  bring  the  people 
that  came  all  the  way  from  Chicago. 
They  were  three  weeks  on  the  road. 
On  that  day  Springfield  was  filled  with 
raccoons,  log  cabins,  and  barrels  of  cider. 
One  cabin  was  on  a  wagon  drawn  by  thirty 
yoke  of  oxen.  By  the  side  of  this  cabin 
a  hickory  tree  was  planted.  In  this  tree 
raccoons  were  seen  playing.  A  barrel  of 
cider  stood  by  the  door. 

Lincoln  was  already  a  favorite  speaker, 


The  Man  of  the  People  71 

although  but  thirty-one  years  old.  He 
had  a  great  hold  on  the  people  because 
he  used  plain,  simple  language,  and  always 
seemed  to  be  frank  and  honest.  He  told 
stories,  sometimes  to  keep  the  people  in 
good  humor,  and  sometimes  to  point 
a  hard-hitting  argument.  He  fully  en- 
joyed this  campaign  of  fun  and  frolic. 
The  Whigs  carried  the  election,  and' 
Lincoln  went  to  the  Legislature  for  the 
last  time. 

He  Decides  to  Become  a  Lawyer 

Long  before,  Lincoln  had  decided  to 
become  a  lawyer.  We  have  already  seen 
how  he  had  a  taste  of  Blackstone's  Com- 
mentaries. But  Major  John  T.  Stuart 
advised  him  to  study  law.  Major  Stuart 
lived  in  Springfield,  and  was  himself  a 
lawyer.  He  probably  saw  in  Lincoln's 
keen  mind  and  logical  way  of  thinking  the 
traits  of  a  good  lawyer.  At  any  rate,  at 
that  time  the  law  was  the  surest  way  to 
public  favor  in  Illinois. 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  usual  way  to  get  a  start  was  to  study 
in  the  office  of  some  lawyer  who  had 
already  made  a  name  for  himself.  But 
Lincoln  started  studying  alone.  He  walked 
twenty  miles  to  borrow  law  books  from 
Major  Stuart.  It  is  said  that  he  some- 
times read  them  on  the  road  as  he  tramped 
back  and  forth.  He  saw  how  a  knowledge 
of  what  the  law  books  contained  would  be 
of  great  aid  to  him  in  the  Legislature. 

One  day  after  he  had  come  back  from 
the  Legislature  he  decided  to  leave  New 
Salem  and  move  to  Springfield. 

Springfield  was  a  town  of  only  fifteen 
hundred,  but  Lincoln  had  many  warm 
friends  there,  for  he  was  one  of  the  men  who 
had  had  most  to  do  in  making  Springfield 
the  capital  of  the  state.  When  he  reached 
Springfield,  on  a  borrowed  horse,  he  car- 
ried everything  he  owned  in  his  saddlebags. 

He  went  to  a  storekeeper  and  asked 
how  much  a  bedstead,  bedding,  and  cer- 
tain other  things  would  cost.  It  figured 
up  seventeen  dollars.  Lincoln  said  that 
he  did  not  have  the  money.  But  if  the 


The  Man  of  the  People  73 

storekeeper  would  give  him  credit  until 
Christmas,  and  his  experiment  of  being  a 
lawyer  turned  out  well,  he  would  pay  him. 
If  he  failed  he  did  not  know 
that  he  should  ever  be  able  to 
pay  him. 

The  storekeeper's  sympathy 
was  aroused.  He  told  Lincoln 
that  "upstairs"  was  a  room 
with  a  double  bed,  and  that 

Lincoln  s 

he  was  welcome  to  use  the  office  chair 
room  and  to  share  the  bed  with  him. 
Lincoln  carried  his  saddlebags  upstairs. 
Soon  he  came  down  with  a  broad  smile 
on  his  face,  and  said,  "Well,  Speed,  I've 
moved." 

Lincoln  began  his  career  as  a  lawyer  in 
the  office  of  his  friend  Major  Stuart. 
These  early  days  at  the  law  were  hard 
days.  It  was  not  very  long,  however, 
before  Lincoln  was  able  to  make  his  liv- 
ing at  the  law.  But  his  creditors !  They 
were  given  everything  he  made  above 
what  Lincoln  needed  to  live  on. 

One  day  an  agent  of  the  Post  Office 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

Department  reached  Springfield.  He 
came  to  collect  seventeen  dollars  which 
Lincoln  owed  the  Government  as  post- 
master at  New  Salem.  Lincoln  walked 
across  the  room  to  a  little  trunk.  He  drew 
forth  an  old  cotton  rag  containing  the  exact 
amount  in  silver  money.  He  paid  the  agent. 
The  men  who  saw  this  were  amazed,  for 
they  knew  how  much  he  had  often  needed 
money.  Why  did  he  not  use  it  in  those 
days  of  pinching  poverty  ?  He  simply  said 
that  he  had  made  it  a  habit  not  to  spend 
money  belonging  to  others. 

Lincoln's  First  Love 

Not  until  Lincoln  reached  the  age  of 
twenty-five  did  he  fall  in  love.  While  he 
was  living  at  New  Salem,  Ann  Rutledge 
captured  his  heart.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
the  tavern  keeper,  and  had  been  to  school 
at  Jacksonville,  a  rare  thing  in  that  day. 
The  people  who  knew  her  declare  that  she 
was  a  young  woman  of  many  virtues. 
She  was  winsome  in  her  ways,  with  a  grace 


The  Man  of  the  People  75 

and  charm  that  caused  the  young  men 
who  visited  her  father's  tavern  suddenly 
to  become  quiet  when  Ann  Rutledge 
came  near. 

Unfortunately  for  Lincoln,  she  had  given 
her  heart  to  another.  A  young  man  had 
won  her.  He  had  come  to  New  Salem 
from  somewhere  in  the  East,  and  now 
that  he  had  made  his  way,  he  would  go 
back  to  bring  his  parents  to  New  Salem, 
and  then  claim  his  bride. 

After  he  had  gone,  his  letters  finally 
stopped  coming,  and  no  one  knew  what 
had  become  of  him.  Ann  Rutledge  was 
a  heart-broken  girl.  For  a  time  she  could 
think  of  but  little  else.  The  silence  of  her 
lover  hung  over  her  like  a  great  cloud. 

Before  she  had  forgotten  her  sorrow 
Abraham  Lincoln  had  fallen  in  love  with 
her.  But  Lincoln  was  poor  and  had 
nothing  to  offer  but  a  great  heart  full  of 
human  love.  Would  Ann  Rutledge  accept 
Lincoln  ? 

It  is  a  tradition  at  New  Salem  that 
Lincoln  first  told  her  of  his  love  at  a 


j6  Abraham  "Lincoln 

"quilting  bee"  to  which  they  had  gone. 
For  a  long  time  the  very  quilt  over  which 
her  nervous  fingers  flew  was  kept  by 
friends  as  proof  of  her  great  excitement, 
for  the  uneven  stitches  tell  the  story. 

Ann  Rutledge  did  not  give  him  an 
answer  that  evening.  Might  not  her  old 
lover  come  back?  Once  more  a  letter 
was  sent,  but  weeks  grew  into  months,  and 
no  answer  ever  came. 

She  accepted  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  the 
two  lovers  were  happy.  But  poverty 
stood  between  them  and  marriage.  They 
had  to  put  off  the  wedding.  When  Lin- 
coln should  come  back  from  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  after  she  had  returned  from 
another  year  at  school  in  Jacksonville, 
they  were  to  be  married. 

The  world  seemed  brighter  to  Lincoln. 
Friends  seemed  gladder  to  see  him. 

But  Ann  Rutledge  could  not  get  rid 
of  the  shadow  of  her  first  lover.  The 
thoughts  of  him  still  haunted  her.  She 
could  not  shake  them  off.  Had  she  not 
pledged  her  word  to  remain  true  to  him? 


at  7  c' docfi, 
t> 

December  16tA,  1839 


4.  A.   N'eteMMANO. 
M.  ALtCM. 
M.  M.  WASH, 


e.  A.  »ouct**s. 

W.  5.  mCKTICC 
«.'«.  KOWAR09. 


j.  r.  SPCEO, 

J.    SHIELDS. 
C.  D.  TAYLOR, 
t.   M.    KCRHXNAM, 
N.   C.  WHITCSIOC. 
M.  CASTHAN. 


A.  LINCOUf, 


Invitation  to  a  party  attended  by  Lincoln 


78  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  people  of  New  Salem  said  she  was 
breaking  her  heart  over  him.  She  seemed 
to  be  pining  away.  Finally  she  fell  sick. 
Her  sickness  grew  into  a  fever. 

Poor  Lincoln!  He  had  been  shut  away 
from  her,  but  as  she  grew  worse  she  cried 
for  him.  Her  family  let  her  have  her  wish. 
They  spent  an  hour  together.  She  sang 
for  him.  It  was  her  last  song.  In  a  few 
days  she  passed  away,  and  he  seemed  to 
be  left  alone  in  the  world. 

Lincoln  wandered  in  the  woods  and 
along  the  river  banks  and  muttered 
strange  words  to  himself.  His  friends 
became  afraid  for  him,  and  one  of  them 
took  him  to  his  friendly  cabin.  There 
under  the  tender  care  of  the  wife  in  that 
cabin  home,  Lincoln  came  to  be  himself 
once  more.  He  never  forgot  good  Bowling 
Green  and  his  wife  Nancy.  Neither  did 
he  soon  forget  the  sweet  prairie  flower 
that  drooped  and  died  before  he  plucked 
it.  Long,  long  years  afterwards  Lincoln 
said  to  a  friend,  "I  have  loved  the  name 
of  Rutledge  to  this  day." 


The  Man  of  the  People  79 

Love  and  Marriage 

After  some  time  a  cheery,  good-looking 
young  woman  from  Kentucky  came  to  live 
in  Springfield.  Her  name  was  Mary  Todd. 
She  became  a  center  of  admiration  for  a 
number  of  young  men.  One  of  them  was 
bright,  keen  young  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
But  none  of  them  took  hold  of  her  feelings 
as  did  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  certainly 
was  not  a  "polished  society  gentleman," 
but  he  had  a  kindliness  of  manner  and  a 
rugged  honesty  that  seemed  to  touch  her. 

In  the  course  of  time  she  became 
engaged  to  Abraham  Lincoln.  But  how 
opposite  they  were!  Lincoln  was  so  very 
tall,  and  she  just  the  average  height. 
He  was  slim,  bony,  and  awkward,  while 
she  was  well  built,  and  a  picture  of  grace 
and  beauty.  His  mind  was  rather  slow  and 
his  face  even  then  a  sad  one,  while  she 
was  indeed  the  gayest  sort  of  a  person, 
loving  fun  and  frolic. 

After  they  had  been  engaged  for  a 
time,  Lincoln  asked  himself  whether  he 


8o  Abraham  Lincoln 

really  loved  Mary  Todd  as  well  as  she 
deserved.  Could  he  really  make  her 
as  happy  as  she  now  seemed  to  be? 
The  more  he  brooded  over  this  question 
the  more  firmly  convinced  he  became  that 
he  did  not  deserve  to  marry  Mary  Todd. 

In  a  fit  of  despair  he  broke  off  his 
engagement  and  went  to  visit  a  good 
friend  in  Kentucky.  There  with  the  aid 
of  warm  friends  he  came  back  to  himself, 
and  in  due  time  returned  to  Springfield. 

Still  Lincoln  was  troubled,  because  he 
was  not  now  certain  that  he  had  done 
the  honorable  thing  in  breaking  his 
engagement. 

He  was  thinking  of  this  problem  when 
writing  later  to  the  good  friend  in  Ken- 
tucky who  had  been  so  full  of  sympathy 
for  him:  "I  must  regain  my  confidence 
in  my  own  ability  to  keep  my  resolves 
when  they  are  made.  In  that  ability 
I  once  prided  myself  as  the  only  or  chief 
gem  of  my  character;  that  gem  I  lost- 
how  and  where  you,  know  too  well.  I 
have  not  yet  regained  it,  and,  until  I 


The  Man  of  the  People 


81 


do,  I  cannot  trust  myself  in  any  matter 
of  much  importance." 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  1842  he  had 
reached  the  point 
where  he  had 
faith  in  himself 
once  more,  and 
he  renewed  the 
engagement  with 
Mary  Todd.  The 
two  young  peo- 
ple seemed  to  be 
in  a  great  hurry, 
if  the  words  of 
a  bridesmaid  can 
be  taken:  "One  Mary  Todd  Lincoln 

morning,  bright  and  early,  my  cousin  came 
down  in  her  excited,  impetuous  way,  and 
said  to  my  father:  'Uncle,  you  must  go  up 
and  tell  my  sister  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  I 
are  to  be  married  this  evening,'  and  to  me : 
'Get  on  your  bonnet,  and  go  with  me  to 
get  my  gloves,  shoes,  etc.,  and  then  to  Mr. 
Edwards's  (her  brother-in-law) .'  When  we 
reached  there,  we  found  some  excitement 


Abraham  Lincoln 


over  a  wedding  being  sprung  upon  them 
so  suddenly.  However,  my  father  .  .  . 
poured  oil  upon  the  waters,  and  we 
thought  everything  was  'ship-shape,' 
when  Mrs.  Edwards  laughingly  said:  'How 
fortunately  you  have  se- 
lected 'this  evening,  for 
the  Episcopal  Sewing  So- 
li^ ciety  is  to  meet  here,  and 
my  supper  is  all  ordered 
.  .  . '  Mary  declared  she 
would  not  make  a  spec- 
tacle for  gossiping  ladies 
to  gaze  upon  and  talk 
about.  .  .  .  Then  my  father  was  dis- 
patched to  tell  Mr.  Lincoln  that  the 
wedding  would  be  deferred  until  the  next 
evening." 

For  good  or  ill,  they  two  were  made 
one.  And  Mary  told  one  of  her  friends 
she  knew  "that  his  heart  was  as  big  as 
his  arm  was  long."  Mrs.  Lincoln  had 
great  faith  in  the  man  she  had  married, 
for  she  declared  that  one  day  he  would 
be  President  of  the  United  States. 


Worktable  from 

Lincoln's  home  in 

Springfield 


The  Man  of  the  People  83 

Getting  Ready  for  Congress 

Shortly  after  his  marriage,  Lincoln  let 
his  friends  know  that  he  wanted  to  go  to 
Congress.  But  a  young  friend  got  ahead 
of  him,  and  Lincoln  was  sent  to  the  con- 
vention to  help  get  the  nomination  for 
him.  Lincoln  did  not  sulk,  but  laughingly 
declared  that  he  felt  "a  good  deal  like  a 
fellow  who  is  made  a  groomsman  to  a  man 
that  has  cut  him  out  and  is  marrying  his 
own  dear  'gal.' ' 

He  had  two  good  reasons  for  working 
hard  in  the  campaign — one  was  to  elect 
his  friend  to  Congress,  and  the  other 
to  make  sure  of  the  election  of  Henry 
Clay — his  political  idol. 

But  Lincoln's  fame  in  this  campaign 
went  beyond  Illinois.  The  Whigs  of 
Indiana  invited  him  to  come  to  the 
Hoosier  State  and  make  speeches.  How 
pleased  Lincoln  must  have  been!  To  go 
back  to  Gentryville  and  shake  hands 
with  old  friends! 

Not  far  from  Gentryville,  Lincoln  made 


84 


Abraham  Lincoln 


one  of  his  speeches  in  a  log  school- 
house.  Many  old  friends  came  to  hear 
him.  How  glad  they  were  to  greet  him 


The  old  swimming  hole 

and  to  listen  to  his  quaint  but  simple 
eloquence !  After  speaking  he  took  pleas- 
ure in  looking  up  every  spot  he  had 
known  in  his  boyhood  days.  The  old 
swimming  hole,  the  town  grocery  to  which 
he  had  walked  to  read  the  weekly  paper 
from  Louisville,  the  mill  where  the  boys 
had  had  good  times  while  waiting  their 


The  Man  of  the  People  85 

"turn,"  the  blacksmith  shop  with  its  old 
forge,  were  all  looked  over  again  with 
fond  memories. 

Lincoln  went  back  to  Illinois  to  learn 
that  his  friend  had  been  elected,  but  that 
Henry  Clay  was  once  more  defeated  for 
the  Presidency. 

Two  years  later,  Lincoln  received  every 
vote  for  the  nomination  for  Congress. 
The  Democrats  had  put  up  that  famous 
backwoods  preacher,  Peter  Cartwright. 
He,  like  Lincoln,  was  born  in  Kentucky. 
Like  Lincoln,  he  was  a  poor  boy  who  had 
won  what  little  education  he  had  by  his 
own  efforts.  Cartwright  knew  everybody, 
and  to  many  people  it  seemed  a  hard 
fight. 

But  Lincoln  went  into  the  campaign  to 
win,  and  win  he  did,  with  a  larger  vote 
than  any  man  had  yet  received.  In  writ- 
ing to  an  old  friend  he  said  that  he  was 
very  glad  for  the  friends  that  had  stood  by 
him  in  the  hard  battle  that  was  just  over, 
but  he  added:  "It  has  not  pleased  me  as 
much  as  I  expected." 


86  Abraham  Lincoln 


Lincoln  in  Congress 

When  Lincoln  went  to  Washington  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  Congress  he  was 
the  one  lone  Whig  from  Illinois.  He  did 
not  know  any  Whigs,  but  soon  got  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  them,  for  they  were 
curious  to  see  the  man  who  could  win  in 
a  state  so  strongly  Democratic.  He  soon 
won  his  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  members 
by  his  ready  wit  and  by  the  stories  of 
which  he  seemed  to  have  so  many. 

It  was  a  time  of  great  excitement  both 
in  and  out  of  Congress.  The  war  with 
Mexico  was  going  on.  The  Whigs  took 
the  stand  that  the  war  was  wrong,  but 
voted  men  and  money  for  the  army. 

The  Democrats  believed  the  war  was 
altogether  right.  Lincoln  took  the  Whig 
view,  and  made  several  speeches,  some 
of  which  were  keen  and  witty. 

Although  Lincoln  was  a  great  admirer 
of  Henry  Clay,  he  saw  that  the  people, 
dazzled  by  the  brilliant  victories  of 


The  Man  of  the  People  87 

General  Taylor  in  Mexico,  really  wanted 
to  elect  him  President. 

Lincoln's  fame  as  a  popular  speaker 
was  spreading.  He  joined  a  Taylor  cam- 
paign club  called  the  "Young  Indians," 
and  received  a  pressing  invitation  to  go 
to  New  England  and  aid  in  winning  votes 
for  Taylor.  He  spoke  in  many  places,  such 
as  Worcester,  Cambridge,  and  Boston. 

He  spent  the  month  of  October  speak- 
ing to  the  people  of  his  own  state  for 
Taylor. 

In  November  Lincoln  went  back  to 
Congress,  resolved  to  do  something  in 
regard  to  slavery.  In  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, in  which  the  city  of  Washington 
is  situated,  was  a  slave  market.  "Much 
like  a  sort  of  negro  livery  stable,"  Lincoln 
said,  "where  droves  of  negroes  were  col- 
lected, temporarily  kept,  and  finally  taken 
to  Southern  markets,  precisely  like  droves 
of  horses."  Many  men  of  all  parties  were 
opposed  to  it. 

Lincoln  introduced  a  bill  into  Congress 
which  aimed  to  remove  slavery  from  the 


88  Abraham  Lincoln 

District,  little  by  little,  until  slavery 
should  be  entirely  gone.  The  bill  was 
very  fair  to  slaveholders,  because  it 
provided  that  before  the  slaves  were 
taken  away  the  slaveholder  was  to  give 
his  consent  to  it,  and  was  to  receive  full 
pay  for  the  loss  of  his  slaves.  Although 
Lincoln  worked  very  hard  for  his  bill,  he 
was  forced  to  see  it  defeated. 

The  fourth  of  March  was  coming  on, 
when  General  Taylor,  or  "Old  Rough  and 
Ready,"  as  his  soldier  boys  loved  to  call 
him,  was  to  be  made  President.  Lincoln 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  commit- 
tee on  the  "Inauguration  Ball,"  or  dance. 
This  was  a  great  event  with  the  people 
of  fashion  in  Washington.  Lincoln  was 
present. 

Like  most  young  men,  Lincoln  felt  the 
attractions  of  Washington  and  thought  he 
would  like  to  live  there.  When  his  time 
in  Congress  was  out  he  tried  to  get  an 
important  office.  How  thankful  the  Amer- 
ican people  ought  to  be  that  Lincoln  did 
not  bury  his  talents  in  one  of  the  public 


The  Man  of  the  People  89 

offices  at  Washington,  and  how  they 
should  rejoice  that  he  came  back  to 
Springfield  and  went  into  the  same  little 
law  office  he  had  left  two  years  before! 

Lincoln  Everybody's  Friend 

Everybody  was  glad  to  give  Lincoln  a 
hearty  welcome  home  again.  He  was 
once  more  among  his  old  friends.  Even 
the  children  knew  him.  He  was  glad  to 
call  them  by  their  first  names.  For  most 
of  them  he  had  done  some  kind  deed 
which  made  them  his  friends  forever.  A 
Springfield  woman  tells  this  story  of 
Lincoln's  kindness  to  her. 

"I  was  going  ...  for  my  first  trip 
alone  on  the  railroad  cars.  .  .  .  The 
hackman  .  .  .  failed  to  call  for  my 
trunk.  ...  I  was  standing  by  the  gate, 
my  hat  and  gloves  on,  sobbing  as  if  my 
heart  would  break,  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
came  by. 

'Why,  what's  the  matter?'  he  asked, 
and  I  poured  out  all  my  story.     '  How  big's 


go  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  trunk?  There's  still  time,  if  it  isn't 
too  big.'  And  he  pushed  through  the  gate 
and  up  to  the  door.  My  mother  and  I 
took  him  up  to  my  room,  where  my 


V 


Lincoln's  home  in  Springfield 

little  old-fashioned  trunk  stood,  locked 
and  tied.  'Oh,  ho!'  he  cried;  'wipe  your 
eyes,  and  come  on  quick.'  And  before 
I  knew  what  he  was  going  to  do  he 
had  shouldered  the  trunk,  was  down 
stairs,  and  striding  out  of  the  yard. 
Down  the  street  he  went,  fast  as  his  long 
legs  could  carry  him.  I  trotted  behind, 


The  Man  of  the  People  pi 

drying  my  tears  as  I  went.  We  reached 
the  station  in  time.  Mr.  Lincoln  put  me 
on  the  train,  kissed  me  good-by,  and  told 
me  to  have  a  good  time.  It  was  just  like 
him." 

Lincoln  wrote  to  his  stepbrother,  saying, 
"You  already  know  I  desire  that  neither 
father  nor  mother  shall  be  in  want  of 
any  comfort,  either  in  health  or  sickness, 
while  they  live ;  and  I  feel  sure  you  have 
not  failed  to  use  my  name,  if  necessary, 
to  procure  a  doctor  or  anything  else  for 
father  in  his  present  sickness." 

And  yet  Lincoln  did  not  always  aid  the 
people  who  asked  him.  This  same  step- 
brother got  some  good  advice  instead  of 
money.  "Your  request  for  eighty  dollars 
I  do  not  think  it  best  to  comply  with 
now.  At  the  various  times  when  I  have 
helped  you  a  little,  you  have  said  to  me, 
'We  can  get  along  very  well  now,'  but  in 
a  very  short  time  I  find  you  in  the  same 
difficulty  again.  .  .  .  You  are  now  in  need 
of  some  money;  and  what  I  propose  is 
that  you  shall  go  to  work  'tooth  and  nail' 


Q2  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  somebody  who  will  give  you  money 
for  it.  ...  I  now  promise  you  that  for 
every  dollar  you  will,  between  this  and 
the  first  of  next  May,  get  for  your  own 
labor,  ...  I  will  then  give  you  one  other 
dollar." 

Life  on  the  Circuit 

Lincoln  was  a  plain,  simple  man  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  He  could  have  been  rich 
had  he  wanted  to  be,  but  he  loved  simple 
ways.  He  could  have  become  a  great 
landholder,  as  some  of  the  lawyers  did. 
Or  he  could  have  gone  to  Chicago  had 
he  wanted  to  do  so.  A  great  lawyer  there 
offered  to  make  Lincoln  his  partner. 
But  Lincoln  preferred  to  stay  in  Spring- 
field among  friends,  and  practice  law  in 
the  country  villages  which  then  formed 
the  county  seats.  He  never  loved  money 
for  its  own  sake. 

He  now  studied  with  a  grim  resolution 
to  master  the  law.  The  people  of  Spring- 
field noticed  the  difference  in  him.  He 
gave  more  attention  to  his  law  books  and 


Riding  the  circuit 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

less  to  sitting  around  "cracking  jokes." 
He  often  placed  a  candle  on  a  chair  near 
the  head  of  his  bed,  and  studied  until 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

He  said  to  some  of  his  friends  that 
every  year  better  educated  lawyers  were 
coming  West.  "They  study  their  cases  as 
we  never  do.  .  .  .  They  will  soon  be  in 
Illinois.  ...  I  am  going.  .  .to  study  law. 
I  am  as  good  as  any  of  them,  and  when 
they  get  out  to  Illinois  I  will  be  ready  for 
them." 

The  famous  "Eighth  Judicial  Circuit" 
was  the  one  that  Lincoln  traveled.  It 
was  located  in  the  central  portion  of  the 
state.  A  judge  held  court  at  the  towns 
in  which  the  courthouses  were  located. 
These  towns  were  called  county  seats.  As 
the  judge  moved  from  county  to  county, 
holding  court,  the  lawyers  went  along, 
sometimes  on  horseback,  and  sometimes 
in  carriages.  These  crowds  of  lawyers 
were  a  happy  lot,  telling  stories  and  crack- 
ing jokes  as  they  rode  along. 

The  people  of  the  county  were  always 


The  Man  of  the  People 


95 


very  much  excited  over  the  coming  of ' '  court 
week."  They  were  a  plain,  simple  people 
who  greatly  enjoyed  the  conflicts  of  oppos- 
ing lawyers.  In  great  cases  they  crowded 
to  hear  the  principal  speeches,  and  drank 
in  with  hungry 
minds  the  flights 
of  eloquence  of 
the  lawyers  that 
rode  the  circuit. 


Lincoln  was  a 


A  sofa  from  Lincoln's  home 


favorite  among  the  country  people.  They 
liked  his  quaint  and  simple  language, 
especially  the  many  stories  he  told  to 
illustrate  his  cases.  But  Lincoln  was  a 
favorite  with  the  lawyers,  too,  when  they 
gathered  evenings  to  pass  away  the  time. 
On  such  occasions  as  these  Lincoln  was  at 
his  best. 

Judge  David  Davis  was  at  one  time 
judge  on  this  circuit.  He  liked  Lincoln, 
and  was  always  anxious  when  Lincoln  did 
not  appear  after  the  day's  work  was  done. 
"Where's  Lincoln?"  "Why  don't  Lincoln 
come?"  he  would  ask  the  other  lawyers. 


g6  Abraham  Lincoln 

When  the  court  was  in  session,  and  a 
case  in  which  Lincoln  had  no  interest  was 
being  tried,  he  would  frequently  whisper 
stories  to  the  other  lawyers.  Judge  Davis 
permitted  the  lawyers  to  whisper,  but  did 
not  permit  them  to  become  noisy. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  had  just  come  in,"  said  one 
of  the  clerks  of  the  court,  "and  leaning  over 
my  desk  had  told  me  a  story  so  irresist- 
ibly funny  that  I  broke  out  into  a  loud 
laugh.  The  judge  called  me  to  order  in 
haste,  saying,  'This  must  be  stopped! 
Mr.  Lincoln,  you  are  constantly  disturbing 
this  court  with  your  stories ! '  Then  turn- 
ing to  me,  'You  may  fine  yourself  five 
dollars  for  your  disturbance ! '  I  apologized, 
but  told  the  judge  that  the  story  was  worth 
the  money.  In  a  few  minutes  the  judge 
called  me  to  him.  'What  was  the  story 
Lincoln  told  you?'  he  asked.  I  told  him, 
and  he  laughed  aloud  in  spite  of  himself. 
'Remit  your  fine,'  he  ordered." 

What  a  look  into  the  past  does  this 
story  give  us!  A  great  judge  like  Davis 
on  the  most  friendly  terms  with  the 


The  Man  of  the  People  gj 

lawyers.  And  Lincoln!  The  wit,  the  fun- 
provoking,  jolly  Lincoln!  Judge  Davis 
loved  him,  and  would  not  miss  a  single 
story  Lincoln  told  to  the  lawyers. 

In  the  course  of  time,  Lincoln  was  called 
upon  to  speak  in  many  important  cases. 
One  trial  called  him  to  Cincinnati,  where 
he  met  a  lawyer  named  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
who  afterwards  became  Secretary  of  War 
under  Lincoln.  Little  did  Stanton  dream 
that  he  would  some  day  serve  under  this 
tall,  awkward  Illinois  lawyer. 

In  a  great  trial  to  which  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  was  a  party,  Lincoln 
received  his  largest  fee — five  thousand 
dollars.  But  most  of  his  fees  were  small. 
Many  of  the  people  were  too  poor  to  pay 
a  lawyer  very  much.  Lincoln  was  often 
scolded  by  the  other  lawyers  for  not 
charging  more. 

Now  and  then  a  case  came  up  in  which 
Lincoln  charged  nothing.  It  was  so  in 
the  trial  of  William  Armstrong,  the  son 
of  "Jack  Armstrong,  of  New  Salem  days." 
Jack  was  dead,  and  his  lonely  widow  was 


g8  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  court  with  her  boy,  who  was  charged 
with  murdering  a  man.  How  the  old  times 
at  New  Salem  came  back  to  Lincoln! 
As  clerk  in  the  store,  his  contest  with  Jack 
Armstrong;  postmaster  at  New  Salem, 
carrying  the  mail  around  in  his  hat;  his 
appointment  as  surveyor ;  the  Black  Hawk 
War ;  the  hours  he  spent  in  the  Armstrong 
cabin — all  came  back  to  him. 

"Uncle  Abe,"  says  William  Armstrong, 
telling  the  story  in  after  days,  "did  his 
best  talking  when  he  told  the  jury  what 
true  friends  my  father  and  mother  had 
been  to  him  in  the  early  days.  .  .  .  He  told 
how  he  used  to  go  out  to  'Jack'  Armstrong's 
and  stay  for  days ;  how  kind  mother  was  to 
him  and  how,  many  a  time,  he  had  rocked 
me  to  sleep  in  the  old  cradle." 

The  feeling  in  that  court  room  was  hot 
against  William  Armstrong.  The  main 
witness  had  declared  he  saw  Armstrong 
strike  the  fatal  blow.  "What  time  was 
it?"  asked  Lincoln.  "About  eleven  o'clock 
in  ^  the  evening,"  answered  the  witness. 
"Was  it  a  bright  night?"  "Yes,  the 


The  Man  of  the  People  gg 

moon  was  nearly,  full."  "What  was  its 
position  in  the  sky?"  "About  the  posi- 
tion of  the  sun  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon."  Lincoln  immediately  gave 
the  jury  an  almanac.  "Gentlemen,  either 
this  witness  is  wrong  or  the  almanac  is 
wrong,  for  it  says  there  was  no  moon  that 
night." 

There  was  a  sudden  change  of  feeling  in 
that  court  room.  The  jury  brought  in  the 
verdict,  "Not  guilty,"  and  Hannah  Arm- 
strong, in  her  poverty  and  old  age,  thanked 
God  for  such  a  friend  as  Abraham  Lincoln. 

He  did  not  like  to  take  cases  he  knew 
to  be  wrong.  Once  while  trying  a  case  he 
turned  to  a  lawyer  and  said,  "Swett,  the 
man  is  guilty;  you  defend  him,  I  can't." 

Once  Lincoln  was  engaged  to  defend  a 
man.  Proof  was  given  that  he  was  really 
attempting  a  fraud.  Lincoln  left  the  court 
room  and  went  to  the  hotel  in  deep  dis- 
gust. The  judge  sent  for  him,  but  he 
refused  to  go.  He  said,  "Tell  the  judge 
my  hands  are  dirty ;  I  came  over  to  wash 
them." 


ioo  Abraham  Lincoln 

These  examples  are  enough  to  show  that 
Lincoln  was  a  very  different  lawyer  from 
some  of  the  men  who  practice  at  the  bar 
of  justice.  When  Lincoln  went  on  the 
circuit  he  did  not  leave  his  conscience  at 
home. 

He  did  not  always  take  cases  offered 
him,  even  if  there  was  no  question  of 
where  the  right  lay.  He  said  to  a  man 
who  wished  him  to  be  his  lawyer:  "Yes, 
there  is  no  reasonable  doubt  but  that  I  can 
gain  your  case  for  you.  I  can  set  a  whole 
neighborhood  at  loggerheads;  I  can  dis- 
tress a  widowed  mother  and  her  six 
fatherless  children,  and  thereby  get  for 
you  six  hundred  dollars,  which  rightfully 
belongs,  it  appears  to  me,  as  much  to 
the.m  as  it  does  to  you.  I  shall  not  take 
your  case,  but  I  will  give  a  little  advice 
for  nothing.  ...  I  would  advise  you  to 
try  your  hand  at  making  six  hundred  j 
dollars  in  some  other  way." 

Lincoln   was   not   the   greatest   lawyer; 
that  ever  lived,  but  he  was  one  of  the 
truest  men  that  ever  practiced  law. 


The  Man  of  the  People  101 

Beginning  to  Debate  Slavery 

For  four  years  Lincoln  had  been  busy 
studying  and  practicing  law.  Then  the 
slavery  question  suddenly  awakened  him 
and  called  him  to  his  life's  work.  ' 

Slavery  was  first  brought  to  the  colony 
of  Virginia  nearly  three  hundred  years 
ago.  Each  of  the  thirteen  colonies  had 
slaves.  But  our  Revolution,  by  which  in- 
dependence was  won,  began  a  movement 
against  slavery.  Some  of  our  best  men 
North  and  South  looked  upon  slavery  as 
an  evil.  Congress  passed  a  law  called  the 
"Ordinance  of  1787,"  which  forbade  slav- 
ery in  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River. 

In  1821  Missouri  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  with  the  proviso  that  slavery  should 
not  exist  north  of  its  southern  boundary 
— the  famous  line  of  36°  30'. 

When  Lincoln  was  in  Congress  the  war 
with  Mexico  was  going  on.  By  that  war 
the  United  States  got  all  her  territory 
in  the  Southwest.  The  North  and  the 


102  Abraham  Lincoln 

South  quarreled  as  to  whether  slavery 
should  or  should  not  go  into  this  territory. 
Henry  Clay,  now  an  old 
man,  came  back  to  the 
Senate  and  introduced 
the  famous  Compromise 
Bill  of  1 8  5  o .  Both  Whigs 
and  Democrats,  North 
and  South,  favored  this 
compromise,  and  it  be- 
came a  law. 

In  1854  Senator  Doug- 
las introduced  a  bill  into 
Congress.  This  was  the 
" Kansas-Nebraska  Bill." 
This  famous  bill  became  a  law,  and  provided 
that  the  people  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
should  decide  whether  they  would  or  would 
not  have  slavery  in  their  territories.  It 
went  one  step  further;  it  repealed  the 
Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  and  left 
slavery  north  of  36°  30'  to  depend  on  the 
wish  of  the  people. 

A  storm  of  indignation  swept  the  North. 
It  awoke  Lincoln,  and  called  him  to  face 


The  Man  jf  the  People  103 

a  new  duty.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was  the 
most  unpopular  man  in  the  North.  He 
was  accused  of  trying  to  win  votes  in  the 
South  to  aid  him  in  becoming  President. 
He  declared  that,  on  his  way  from  New 
York  to  Chicago,  he  could  read  his  news- 
paper at  night  by  the  light  of  his  own 
burning  effigy.  He  had  been  a  great 
favorite  with  the  Northern  Democracy, 
but  the  Kansas-Nebraska  law  had  hurt 
his  popularity. 

Only  a  few  friends  met  him  at  the  train. 
No  booming  cannon  told  of  his  coming; 
but  flags  in  the  city,  on  the  river,  and  in 
the  harbor  were  flying  at  half  mast,  and  the 
church  bells  tolling  as  if  the  city  were  in 
mourning.  Douglas  was  a  brave  man,  and 
went  immediately  to  face  a  large  audience. 
He  tried  to  explain  his  conduct  in  regard 
to  the  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill.  The  crowd 
was  sullen  and  silent.  He  was  listened 
to  for  a  time.  Then  somebody  disputed 
one  of  his  statements.  At  once  the  storm 
broke  loose.  He  could  not  master  that 
audience.  He  grew  angry,  but  the  people 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 

would  not  hear  him  further.    Douglas  left. 

In  a  short  time  he  went  to  Lincoln's 
home  to  speak  to  the  farmers  at  the 
State  Fair.  Douglas  explained  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill — how  it  rested  on  the  right 
of  the  people  of  the  territories  to  settle 
the  slavery  question  for  themselves.  He 
spoke  for  three  hours.  It  was  a  masterful 
speech.  Douglas  was  a  great  speaker. 
He  had  been  trained  in  debating  from 
his  boyhood.  He  was  now  the  greatest 
off-hand  debater  in  America.  He  was 
ready  at  a  moment's  notice  on  any 
question. 

It  was  understood  that  on  the  next  day 
Lincoln  would  reply  to  the  speech  made  by 
Douglas.  For  six  months  Lincoln  had 
given  up  his  story -telling,  and  had  not  been 
seen  in  the  places  where  he  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  going.  Now  he  was  to  be 
found  in  the  libraries,  looking  up  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery. 

When  Lincoln  mounted  the  stage  to 
speak,  on  that  October  day  of  1854,  a  great 
cheering  crowd  greeted  him.  He  seemed 


The  Man  of  the  People  105 

unusually  solemn.  The  greatness  of  the 
subject  had  taken  hold  of  him.  He  spoke 
words  of  much  soberness.  Fewer  jokes 
and  more  history  fell  from  his  lips.  He 
made  it  clear  to  the  audience  what  a 
great  wrong  slavery  was,  and  that  Doug- 
las, in  opening  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to 
slavery,  had  done  great  harm,  not  only 
to  the  people  of  those  territories  but 
to  the  people  of  the  whole  nation. 

Senator  Douglas  sat  in  the  crowd  and 
listened  to  his  argument.  Sometimes 
Douglas,  stung  by  the  keenness  of  his 
reasoning,  sprang  to  his  ffeet,  only  to  be 
driven  to  sit  down  again.  How  proud 
of  Lincoln  the  antislavery  men  were! 
He  spoke  for  four  hours.  When  he  had 
finished,  that  great  audience  cheered  and 
cheered  again,  so  pleased  were  they  with 
Lincoln's  .speech.  Douglas  felt  called 
upon  to  answer,  but  he  could  not  break 
the  charm  of  Lincoln's  logic. 

This  masterly  speech  proved  Lincoln  to 
be  the  equal  of  Douglas.  He  at  once  be- 
came the  leader  of  the  antislavery  people 


io6  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  Illinois,  a  position  he  did  not  give  up 
as  long  as  he  lived. 

Lincoln  followed  Douglas  to  Peoria, 
where  they  debated  the  same  question. 
Lincoln  used  the  same  plan  he  had  used 
in  Springfield.  No  fooling,  no  telling  of 
quaint  stories,  but  plain,  simple  logic. 

He  said  that  slavery  made  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  feel  that  we  were  ' '  not 
true  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence," 
but  that  we  were  "really  acting  like  hypo- 
crites." He  was  speaking  against  slavery 
and  not  against  the  Southern  people. 
"They  are  just  what  we  would  be  in  their 
situation.  If  slavery  did  not  exist  among 
them,  they  would  not  introduce  it.  If  it 
did  now  exist  among  us,  we  should  not 
instantly  give  it  up." 

Judge  Douglas  had  declared  with  much 
irony  in  his  words  that  the  "white  people 
of  Nebraska  are  good  enough  to  govern 
themselves,  but  they  are  not  good  enough 
to  govern  a  few  miserable  negroes."  This 
statement  Lincoln  answered  by  saying 
that  "no  man  is  good  enough  to  govern 


The  Man  of  the  People 


107 


another  man  without  that  other's  consent. 
The  master  governs  the  slave  without  his 
consent.  I  object  to  it  because  it  says 


Settlers  hurrying  into  Kansas  Territory 

there  can  be  moral  right  in  one  man 
enslaving  another." 

Douglas  said  that  Lincoln  had  given 
him  more  trouble  over  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  than  all  the  antislavery 
men  in  the  United  States  Senate.  Such 
words  from  so  famous  a  debater  were 
indeed  a  high  compliment  to  Lincoln. 

Lincoln  had  many  calls  to  different 
parts  of  the  state  to  make  speeches  on 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  question. 


lo8  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  Kansas  troubles  were  coming  thick 
and  fast.  Settlers  from  the  free  states 
and  from  the  slave  states  were  hurrying 
to  that  territory.  Instead  of  settling  the 
question  of  slavery  by  voting,  they  were 
setting  fire  to  each  other's  homes  and 
murdering  one  another.  A  body  of  United 
States  soldiers  had  to  be  sent  there  to 
keep  peace. 

Lincoln  made  a  powerful  speech  before 
a  meeting  of  antislavery  men  held  at 
Bloomington.  He  stirred  the  feelings  of 
that  big  meeting  by  declaring  "Kansas 
shall  be  free."  "The  greatest  speech  ever 
made  in  Illinois,"  said  the  men  who 
heard  it.  Again  and  again  the  audience 
sprang  to  their  feet  and  cheered. 

All  over  the  country  the  men  opposed  to 
slavery  united  in  a  great  party  named  the 
Republican  party.  This  party  was  de- 
termined there  should  be  no  more  slave 
territory.  Fremont  was  their  candidate  for 
President  in  1856,  and  more  than  1,300,000 
men  voted  for  him.  Lincoln  took  a  big 
part  in  this  campaign.  While  Fremont 


The  Man  of  the  People  10$ 

was  not  elected,  Lincoln  declared  that  if 
all  were  united  in  heart  and  soul,  the  next 
time  the  Republicans  would  be  successful 
Little  did  he  or  his  audience  think  that 
he  was  to  be  the  man  to  unite  them. 

In  the  year  1857  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  handed  down  the  famous 
Dred  Scott  Decision.  By  this  decision 
a  negro  was  a  mere  thing.  He  could  be 
bought  and  sold  like  a  horse,  a  cow,  or  a 
pig.  The  decision  also  stated  that  slav- 
ery, according  to  the  Constitution,  already 
existed  in  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  Congress  and  the  Legislature  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

The  Supreme  Court  made  it  very  awk- 
ward for  Senator  Douglas,  because  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  law  said  that  the  people 
of  a  territory  could  settle  the  question  of 
slavery  for  themselves.  It  aimed  a  blow 
at  the  Republican  party  also,  for  this  party 
had  declared  that  Kansas  should  be  free. 

The  Republicans  were  furious.  They 
declared  they  would  never  stand  by  the 
decision,  and  demanded  more  resolutely 


no  Abraham  Lincoln 

than  ever  that  Kansas  be  a  free  state. 
Lincoln  was  alarmed.  He  said,  "Only  one 
more  decision  is  needed,  and  slavery  will 
go  into  every  state  in  the  Union."  He 
sounded  the  alarm  which  awoke  the  Re- 
publicans of  Illinois. 

"A  House  Divided  Against 
Itself" 

In  June,  1858,  the  Republicans  met  in 
convention,  in  Springfield,  and  named 
Lincoln  for  United  States  Senator  to  take 
the  place  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  What 
an  enthusiastic  convention!  Everywhere 
there  were  banners  bearing  mottoes. 
These  showed  that  the  Republicans  were 
going  in  to  win.  The  convention  passed 
a  resolution  that  "Abraham  Lincoln  is 
the  first  and  only  choice  of  the  Republicans 
of  Illinois  for  the  United  States  Senate." 
On  that  evening  Lincoln  spoke  to  a  big 
audience.  He  said:  "A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1866  from  an  ambrotype  made  «t 

Macomb.  Illinois,  in  1858,  and  reproduced  through  the 

courtesy  of  the  owner,  Mr.  W.  J.  Franklin 


The  Man  of  the  People  in 

half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it  will 
cease  to  be  -divided.  It  will  become  all 
one  thing  or  all  the  other." 

Lincoln  went  on  to  explain  that  just  one 
more  decision  was  needed  to  make  slavery 
lawful  in  the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South. 
This  was  a  great  speech,  because  it  told 
the  people  of  Illinois  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States  what  Lincoln  really  thought 
might  happen.  It  was  a  wonderful 
speech,  because  it  raised  a  new  question. 
Lincoln  made  it  so  clear  every  man  could 
see  that  only  one  more  decision  was 
needed  to  put  slavery  into  every  state  of 
the  North.  E\ery  man  went  home  that 
night  to  ask  himself,  "Which  shall  it  be? 
What  is  the  use  of  compromise  when  in 
the  end  we  must  decide  either  in  favor 
of  freedom  in  all  the  states  or  in  favor  of 
slavery  in  all  the  states?" 

Lincoln's  closing  words  rang  like  a 
battle  call:  "Two  years  ago  the  Republi- 
cans of  the  nation  mustered  over  thirteen 
hundred  thousand  strong.  We  did  this 


712  Abraham  Lincoln 

under  the  single  impulse  of  resistance  to 
a  common  danger.  .  .  .  We  gathered  from 
the  four  winds  and  formed  and  fought 
the  battle  through,  under  the  constant 
hot  fire  of  a  disciplined,  proud,  and  pam- 
pered enemy.  Did  we  brave  all  then  to 
falter  now?  If  we  stand  firm  we  shall 
not  fail." 

Lincoln  showed  the  first  part  of  his 
speech  to  some  friends.  They  begged  him 
not  to  put  in  his  speech  the  idea  of  the 
country's  becoming  all  slave  or  all  free. 
He  asked,  "Is  it  not  true?  Is  it  not  just?" 
"Oh,  yes!  but  Douglas  will  beat  you  if 
you  put  that  in."  Lincoln  declared  that 
he  "would  rather  be  defeated  with  this 
expression  in  the  speech  .  .  .  than  be 
victorious  without  it." 

This  great  speech  marked  the  end  of 
one  period  of  Lincoln's  life  and  fortunes 
and  the  beginning  of  another.  Men  did 
not  know  it,  but  it  marked  the  beginning 
of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  slavery  in 
this  country.  This  speech  is  the  speech 
of  a  statesman. 


The  Man  of  the  People  113 

The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates 

Douglas  was  greatly  excited  when  he 
read  Lincoln's  address.  He  saw  that  it 
was  very  dangerous  to  let  Democrats  read 
that  speech.  The  idea  that  slavery  was 
going  to  be  national  and  perpetual  would 
take  hold  of  Democrats  and  make  them 
into  Republicans.  He  was  most  anxious 
to  show  the  people  the  great  danger 
lurking  in  the  speech,  and  how  it  really 
encouraged  a  war  between  the  North  and 
the  South. 

Douglas  had  won  back  his  popularity  in 
Chicago,  and  thousands  cheered  him  to  the 
echo  as  he  made  answer  to  the  "House- 
Divided-against-Itself "  speech.  Lincoln 
had  been  invited  to  hear  him  and  had  a 
good  seat.  It  was  worth  a  long  journey 
just  to  hear  and  see  Douglas.  He  was 
below  the  medium  height,  but  he  was 
powerfully  built — a  stout  neck  and  large 
head  set  on  broad  shoulders. 

His  mental  machinery  worked  quickly. 
He  saw  far  through  an  enemy's  argument. 

8 


Abraham  Lincoln 


Sometimes  Douglas   "threw  dust"  in  the 
eyes  of  his  audience.     No    man  equaled 
him    in    making    "the 
worse  appear  the  better 
reason." 

Douglas  sometimes 
looked  down  on  Lin- 
coln. In  this  speech  he 
began  by  saying  that 
Lincoln  was  "a  kind- 
hearted  man,  a  good- 
natured  gentleman,  a 
right  good  fellow,  of 
great  ability  as  a  law- 
yer, and  I  have  no 
doubt  he  has  ability  to 
become  a  United  States 
Senator ! ' ' 

He  declared  Lincoln 
in  his  speech  was  invit- 
ing the  North  and  the  South  to  make  war 
on  each  other,  and  that  Lincoln  was  guilty 
of  opposing  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  Douglas 
tore  the  speech  to  pieces,  at  least  so  he 


The  statue  of  Lincoln 

by  Augustus  St.  Gaudens 

in  Lincoln  Park, 

Chicago 


The  Man  of  the  People  115 

believed,  and  so  the  Democrats  believed. 

On  the  next  night  Lincoln  made  answer. 
He  began  in  a  playful  way,  saying  that 
"Senator  Douglas  is  of  world-wide  renown. 
All  the  anxious  politicians  of  his  party, 
or  who  have  been  of  his  party  for  years 
past,  have  been  looking  upon  him  certainly, 
at  no  distant  day,  to  be  President  of  the 
United  States.  They  have  seen  in  his 
round,  jolly,  fruitful  face,  post-offices,  land- 
offices,  marshalships  .  .  .  foreign  missions, 
bursting  and  sprouting  out  in  wonderful 
exuberance  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by 
their  greedy  hands.  .  .  .  On  the  contrary 
nobody  has  ever  expected  me  to  be  Presi- 
dent. In  my  poor,  lean,  lank  face  nobody 
has  ever  seen  that  any  cabbages  were 
sprouting  out." 

Lincoln  said  that  Douglas  had  not 
quoted  his  speech  fairly.  He  denied  that 
he  ever  meant  to  urge  a  war  between 
the  North  and  the  South,  and  declared 
he  had  said  many  times  that  no  one  had 
a  right  to  meddle  with  slavery  in  the 
states  where  it  already  existed.  He  was 


Il6  Abraham  Lincoln 

opposed  to  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  and 
all  who  believed  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  ought  to  be  opposed  to  that 
decision.  The  Republicans  were  greatly 
pleased,  and  once  in  the  middle  of  his 
speech  he  had  to  stop  while  they  gave 
"three  cheers  for  Lincoln." 

In  a  few  days  Douglas  carried  his  cam- 
paigning right  into  Lincoln's  own  town  of 
Springfield.  He  came  with  much  pomp 
and  show.  Brass  bands  and  cannon  gave 
the  signals  that  the  great  man  was  there. 
He  attacked  Lincoln's  "House -Divided 
against -Itself"  speech  with  more  vigor 
than  ever. 

Lincoln  made  a  reply  that  stirred  the 
people.  They  began  to  talk  of  a  "joint 
debate,"  in  which  the  debaters  took  turns, 
while  the  audience  listened.  Douglas 
should  have  challenged  Lincoln,  because 
he  was  a  more  famous  man.  He  had 
been  a  United  States  Senator  for  a  long 
time.  He  had  traveled  in  Europe,  and 
had  been  twice  before  the  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention  for  President. 


The  Lincoln-Douglas  debate  at  Galesbterg 


n8  Abraham  Lincoln 

But  Douglas  did  not  wish  to  challenge 
Lincoln.  He  knew  that  for  many  years 
Illinois  had  been  solidly  Democratic,  and 
he  did  not  want  to  be  the  means  of  draw- 
ing Democrats  to  hear  him  speak  and 
then  have  Lincoln  make  Republicans  out 
of  them. 

Finally  Lincoln's  friends  told  him  that 
he  must  challenge  Douglas.  He  did  so, 
and  Douglas  said  he  would  agree  to  seven 
joint  debates  on  seven  Saturdays  in  the 
towns  of  Ottawa,  Freeport,  Jonesboro, 
Charleston,  Galesburg,  Quincy,  and  Alton. 

The  battle  opened  in  August.  Almost 
everybody  in  Illinois  tried  to  be  at  one 
of  the  meetings.  People  traveled  long 
distances ;  many  came  a  day  or  two  before, 
and  filled  the  hotels  and  boarding  houses. 
They  camped  in  the  streets  and  in  the 
groves  around  the  towns. 

On  the  day  of  the  debate  the  people 
came  in  wagons  all  covered  with  'ban- 
ners and  carrying  mottoes.  They  came 
by  the  hundreds  and  by  the  thousands. 
All  over  the  country,  as  well  as  in  Illinois. 


The  Man  of  the  People  up 

the  people  wanted  to  hear  the  debates. 
So  the  great  newspapers  in  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  and  New  York  sent  reporters 
to  listen  to  the  debates.  The  Democrats 
of  the  North  were  now  beginning  to  waver 
a  bit  on  the  slavery  question. 

Douglas  came  to  the  place  of  debate 
with  great  show  and  parade.  His  beau- 
tiful wife  came  with  him  and  took  deep 
interest  in  all  that  was  said  and  done. 
Douglas  traveled  in  a  special  car,  and 
sometimes  he  had  a  special  train.  His 
train  of  cars  was  covered  with  "stream- 
ers" bearing  mottoes.  Lincoln,  on  the 
other  hand,  traveled  as  best  he  could.  No 
special  car  was  provided  for  him.  Some- 
times he  went  on  a  freight  train.  Once 
when  Lincoln  was  riding  in  the  caboose  of 
a  freight  train  they  had  to  stop  on  a  side 
track  to  permit  Douglas'  fine  train  to 
sweep  by.  Lincoln  laughingly  said,  "The 
gentleman  in  that  car  evidently  smelt  no 
royalty  in  our  carriage." 

Some  of  the  Lincoln  mottoes  were  full 
of  interest,  while  others  were  a  bit  funny. 


I2O  Abraham  Lincoln 

At  one  debate  thirty-two  young  girls  rode 
in  a  fine  wagon,  each  representing  a  state 
of  the  Union.  But  a  thirty-third  young 
lady,  representing  Kansas,  rode  behind 
the  wagon.  Her  motto  was  "I  Will  Be 
Free."  A  newspaper  reporter  declared 
that  she  was  too  good-looking  to  be  free 
very  long! 

Some  other  mottoes  were: 

"Illinois  born  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787." 
'Free  Territories  and  Free  Men,        « 
Free  Pulpits  and  Free  Preachers, 
Free  Press  and  a  Free  Pen, 
Free  Schools  and  Free  Teachers." 
"Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way, 
The  girls  link  on  to  Lincoln;    their  mothers  were 
for  Clay." 

"Abe  the  Giant- Killer." 
"Edgar  County  for  the  Tall  Sucker." 

Douglas  had  a  voice  that  could  deepen 
into  a  roar.  His  eloquence  was  like  the 
rush  of  a  mighty  storm,  sweeping  men  from 
their  feet  before  they  had  time  to  think. 
Douglas  looked  bigger  than  he  was.  He 
was  well  dressed.  He  was  at  home  on  the 
platform,  where  he  walked  about  as  one 


The  Man  of  the  People  121 

having  great  confidence  in  himself.  He 
had  been  in  many  a  battle  like  this,  and 
was  bound  to  come  off  victor. 

Lincoln  was  tall,  slender,  and  awkward. 
His  face  was  sad  when  he  was  not  excited. 
His  voice  was  light,  but  people  a  long 
distance  away  could  hear  him  speak.  His 
mental  machinery  was  rather  slow,  but 
when  his  mind  had  worked  out  its  links 
of  logic,  not  even  the  eloquence  of  Douglas 
was  able  to  break  them.  He  was  always 
earnest  and  sincere.  His  simple  and  unaf- 
fected words  made  men  feel  that  he  was 
seeking  the  truth.  His  gestures  were  as 
simple  as  his  words,  and  when  he  was 
warmed  up  in  debate  he  used  his  long 
bony  finger  to  impress  his  audience. 

In  the  debate  at  Ottawa,  as  in  all  the- 
joint  debates,  both  sides  claimed  the  vic- 
tory. The  friends  of  Douglas  were  over- 
joyed at  the  splendid  showing  made  by 
the  "Little  Giant."  Lincoln's  friends, 
not  to  be  outdone,  much  against  his  will 
picked  him  up  and  bore  him  off  on  their 
shoulders. 


122 


Abraham  Lincoln 


In  the  debate  at  Freeport  Lincoln  proved 
himself  the  equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of 
Douglas.  He  proved  it  by  answering 
seven  questions  Douglas  had 
put  to  him.  Then  again  he 
proved  it  by  asking  Douglas 
four  questions. 

Lincoln  knew  that  in  1860 
Douglas,  in  order  to  be  Presi- 
dent, would  have  to  have 
the  votes  of  the  men  in  the 
South  who  were  trying  to 
make  Kansas  a  slave  state. 
He  also  knew  that  Douglas,  in  order  to 
be  Senator,  would  have  to  have  the  votes 
of  the  people  of  Illinois.  Lincoln  was 
resolved  that  Douglas  should  not  have 
both  sets  of  votes.  To  keep  Douglas 
from  getting  both  sets  of  votes  he  put 
one  of  the  hardest  questions  ever  asked 
a  man  in  joint  debate. 

Here  is  the  one  fatal  question  of  the  four 
that  he  put  to  Douglas:  "Can  the  people 
of  a  United  States  territory  (Kansas,  for 
instance)  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the 


Courtesy  of  Mr.  Frank  G.  Log»: 

Lincoln's  knife 
and  case 


The  Man  of  the  People  123 

wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to 
the  formation  of  a  State  Constitution?" 

Lincoln  showed  his  questions  to  some 
friends.  They  saw  only  the  danger  to 
Lincoln.  "Do  not  put  that  question," 
they  said.  "If  you  do,  Douglas  will  be 
Senator."  They  thought  only  of  Lin- 
coln's being  Senator.  But  Lincoln  replied, 
"I  am  after  larger  game." 

Just  as  Lincoln's  friends  had  feared, 
Douglas  sprang  to  the  answer  and  declared 
that  the  people  of  a  territory,  by  pass- 
ing laws  against  slavery,  could  drive  it 
out.  By  this  answer,  Douglas  held  the 
people  of  Illinois.  He  won  the  Senator- 
ship,  but  lost  the  Presidency.  As  fast  as 
the  news  of  this  answer  spread  over  the 
South  the  people  there  declared  they 
would  never  support  Douglas  for  Presi- 
dent. They  carried  this  resolution  into 
effect  in  1860,  when  the  Democratic  party 
split  in  two  rather  than  vote  for  Douglas. 

The  debates  went  on.  Lincoln  repeated 
his  questions  in  many  places  and  Douglas 


124  Abraham  Lincoln 

answered  them.  So  the  people  of  the 
whole  country  came  to  know  just  where 
each  man  stood  on  the  slavery  question. 

Douglas  tried  to  fasten  on  Lincoln  the 
charge  of  being  an  Abolitionist,  and  ac- 
cused him  of  teaching  that  the  negro  was 
his  political  and  social,  equal.  Lincoln 
replied  that  he  did  not  believe  that  the 
negro  was  his  political  and  social  equal. 
"But, "he  said,  "in  the  right  to  eat  the 
bread,  without  the  leave  of  anybody  else, 
which  his  own  hand  earns,  he  is  my  equal, 
and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the 
equal  of  every  living  man." 

Douglas  had  said  many  times,  "I  do 
not  care  whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or 
voted  down."  "That  is  logical,"  said 
Lincoln,  "if  you  do  not  admit  that  slavery 
is  wrong.  If  you  admit  that  slavery  is 
wrong  you  cannot  say  that  you  do  not 
care  whether  a  wrong  is  voted  up  or  voted 
down.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  con- 
tinue in  this  country  when  these  poor 
tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  myself 
shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle 


The  Man  of  the  People  125 

between  these  two  principles,  right  and 
wrong,  throughout  the  world." 

Long  before  the  debates  were  ended 
Lincoln's  friends  caught  fresh  enthusiasm. 
They  felt  that  his  speeches  were  greater 
than  those  of  Douglas.  They  saw  clearly 
that,  on  moral  grounds,  Lincoln  had  the 
best  of  the  debates.  When  discussing  the 
right  and  wrong  of  questions  Lincoln's 
tones  rang  out  like  the  voice  of  a  prophet 
of  old. 

Lincoln  before  the  People  of  the 
United  States 

When  Lincoln  went  home  from  the  last 
debate  he  was  a  man  of  national  reputa- 
tion. From  every  part  of  the  country 
except  the  South  came  calls  for  him  to 
speak  to  the  people.  From  Kansas,  from 
Minnesota,  from  Iowa,  from  Ohio,  from 
New  York,  and  from  different  places  in 
New  England  came  the  call  for  Lincoln. 
The  people  were  hungry  to  hear  the  man 
who  had  braved  the  "Little  Giant"  and 
had  given  him  such  a  shaking  up. 


126  Abraham  Lincoln 

But  Lincoln  did  not  seem  to  understand 
that  these  demands  were  proofs  that  he  was 
truly  one  of  the  great  men  of  the  nation. 
He  said  smilingly,  "I  have  been  a  great 
man  such  a  mighty  little  time  that  I  am 
not  used  to  it  yet."  He  always  put  too 
small  a  value  on  himself. 

But  his  friends  understood  the  meaning 
of  it  all.  They  were  greatly  pleased  when 
the  call  came  for  a  speech  to  be  given  in 
Cooper  Union,  New  York.  They  rejoiced 
that  he  had  been  invited  to  the  largest  city 
in  America,  the  home  of  Horace  Greeley. 
Greeley  was  editor  of  the  New  York  Tri- 
bune, the  greatest  antislavery  newspaper 
printed  in  the  whole  United  States. 

The  day  for  the  speech  came.  Cooper 
Union  was  jammed  with  the  best  people 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  all  curious  to 
hear  Lincoln.  The  beloved  poet,  William 
Cullen  Bryant,  was  president  of  the  meet- 
ing. Horace  Greeley  was  there,  with  many 
other  equally  famous  persons.  Lincoln 
gave  them  a  truly  great  speech.  In  the 
next  morning's  Tribune,  Greeley  said: 


The  Man  of  the  People  127 

"The  vast  assemblage  frequently  rang 
with  cheers  and  shouts  of  applause.  .  .  . 
No  man  ever  before  made  such  an  impres- 
sion on  his  first  appeal  to  a  New  York 
audience." 

After  Lincoln's  return  to  Illinois  the 
people  began  to  speak  of  him  for  President. 
A  few  friends  had  already  spoken  to  him. 
In  reply  Lincoln  said:  "What's  the  use 
of  talking  of  me  for  the  Presidency  whilst 
we  have  such  men  as  Seward,  Chase,  and 
others?  Everybody  knows  them;  and  no- 
body scarcely  outside  of  Illinois  knows 
me."  Another  friend  he  advised  not  to 
give  it  further  mention.  "I  do  not  think 
myself  fit  for  the  Presidency."  But  his 
friends  in  Illinois  kept  on  working  to  have 
him  nominated. 

When  the  state  convention  met  in 
the  town  of  Decatur  in  May,  1860,  the 
Lincoln  feeling  was  running  high.  The 
governor  was  the  chairman  of  the  con- 
vention. The  hall  was  crowded  with 
Illinois  delegates.  Just  at  the  right  time, 
two  men  came  into  the  hall  carrying  two 


128 


Abraham  Lincoln 


rails  and  a  banner.  On  the  banner  were 
the  following  words:  "Abraham  Lincoln, 
the  rail  candidate  for  President  in  1860. 


The  Wigwam,  Chicago 

Two  rails  from  a  lot  of  3,000  made  in  1830 
by  Thos.  Hanks  and  Abe  Lincoln,  whose 
father  was  the  first  pioneer  of  Macon 
County. ' '  The  crowd  went  wild  as  the  two 
men  marched  into  the  hall.  The  dele- 
gates  caught  up  Lincoln,  lifted  him  above 
their  heads,  and  carried  him  to  the 
platform  amid  the  cheering,  yelling  crowd. 
When  Lincoln  reached  the  stand  the 
cheering  rose  again.  He  had  to  make  a 


The  Man  of  the  People  129 

speech.  After  the  speech  the  convention 
passed  a  resolution  declaring  Lincoln  to  be 
the  choice  of  the  Republicans  of  Illinois 
for  President.  The  delegates  were  told  to 
"use  all  honorable  means  to  secure  his 
nomination." 

The  Republicans  held  their  national 
convention  in  Chicago.  The  city  was  duly 
proud  of  the  fact,  and  just  for  the  meeting 
had  built  a  large  wooden  building  called 
the  Wigwam.  The  people  came  from  near 
and  far  and  filled  the  city  with  cheering 
crowds,  with  banners  and  with  music. 
They  did  not  all  cheer  for  Lincoln,  however. 

A  great  man  from  the  state  of  New 
York,  Senator  Seward,  was  a  favorite. 
Seward  had  been  governor  of  New  York 
and  had  been  United  States  Senator  for 
more  than  ten  years. 

While  everybody  knew  Seward,  not 
every  one  knew  Lincoln.  But  Chicago  was 
a  Lincoln  town,  and  every  street  was  hung 
with  Lincoln  banners. 

When  the  great  convention  met,  the 
first  count  showed  that  Seward  had  the 

9 


Abraham  Lincoln 

largest  number  of  votes.  When  they 
voted  the  second  time,  it  was  seen  that 
Lincoln  was  gaining,  and  when  they  were 
casting  the  vote  for  the  third  time,  long 
before  it  came  to  an  end  they  knew  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  would  be  nominated. 
The  Wigwam  shook  with  cheers  for  Lin- 
coln, and  the  booming  of  cannon  told  the 
people  of  the  city  that  Lincoln  was  nom- 
inated for  President. 

Down  in  Springfield,  Lincoln  was  stand- 
ing in  the  doorway  of  a  newspaper  office. 
A  boy  ran  up  with  a  telegram  telling  of  his 
nomination.  Lincoln  read  the  telegram, 
and,  turning  to  the  friends  crowded  around 
him,  said:  "As  there  is  a  little  woman 
down  on  Eighth  Street  who  will  be  glad 
to  hear  the  news,  you  must  excuse  me 
until  I  inform  her." 

From  Chicago  came  a  number  of  men 
sent  by  the  convention  to  tell  Lincoln  of 
his  nomination.  When  the  head  man  had 
spoken,  and  Lincoln  had  replied,  they 
were  invited  to  go  into  another  room  where 
Mrs.  Lincoln  would  give  them  something 


132 


Abraham  Lincoln 


to  drink.  In  those  days  "something  to 
drink"  meant  whisky.  What  was  the  sur- 
prise of  these  men  when  cold  water  was 
given  them.  Lincoln  sim- 
ply said  that  he  would  not 
break  his  custom  now. 

So  many  people  came  to 
see  him  that  the  governor 
gave  him  a  room  in  the 
State  Capitol.  Here  he 
talked  over  the  prospects 
of  the  campaign  with 
leading  Republicans  and 
greeted  all  who  came  to 
see  him  with  a  hearty 
handshake. 

This  was  an  odd  cam- 
paign. Three  candidates  were  in  the  field 
besides  Lincoln.  The  Democratic  party 
split.  The  Northern  part  nominated  Doug- 
las for  President,  while  the  Southern  part 
nominated  Breckenridge.  A  third  party, 
called  the  Constitutional  Union  party,  had 
a  candidate.  This  party  wanted  the  peo- 
ple to  stop  quarreling  over  slavery  and  all 


A  Lincoln  campaign 
medal 


The  Man  of  the  People  133 

support  the  Constitution  and  the  Union. 
But  the  people  would  not  stop,  for  they 
wanted  the  slavery  question  settled  one 
way  or  the  other. 

Lincoln  did  not  "take  the  stump"  as 
did  Douglas,  but  remained  in  Springfield. 

The  campaign  grew  hot,  and  men  became 
more  and  more  excited  as  the  summer 
passed  into  fall.  "Wide Awake"  clubs  were 
formed  in  many  cities  of  the  North.  The 
men  marched  in  torchlight  processions, 
wearing  glazed  oilcloth  caps  and  capes. 

Lincoln  was  called  the  "Rail-splitter 
Candidate,"  and  fence  rails  were  to  be 
seen  which  were  supposed  to  have  been 
made  by  Lincoln.  But  "Honest  old  Abe" 
was  the  name  the  orators  in  the  campaign 
loved  to  use. 

Lincoln  came  in  for  many  hard  words 
that  men  would  be  glad  to  forget  to-day. 
Some  said  that  "he  was  only  a  third-rate 
country  lawyer"  and  could  not  be  expected 
to  do  much,  if  elected.  Others  made  sport 
of  his  jokes  and  declared  that  "he  could 
not  speak  good  grammar." 


1 34  Abraham  Lincoln 

In  the  North  public  opinion  was  rising 
in  Lincoln's  favor,  in  spite  of  such  state- 
ments, and  when  the  November  days 
came,  and  the  election  was  held,  Lincoln 
received  more  votes  than  any  other  candi- 
date. There  was  a  great  outburst  of 
rejoicing  in  the  North.  The  Republican 
party  had  won  a  national  victory  for  the 
first  time  in  its  history. 

But  pretty  soon  news  came  up  from 
the  Southland  that  South  Carolina  and 
several  other  Southern  states  had  left  the 
Union.  Before  Lincoln  took  his  seat  as 
President  these  states  had  formed  a 
Southern  Confederacy  and  had  elected 
Jefferson  Davis  president. 

After  his  election,  Lincoln  was  busy 
getting  ready  his  inaugural  speech,  select- 
ing his  Cabinet,  and  watching  the  course 
of  events,  especially  in  Congress.  Here 
the  members  from  the  South  were  already 
making  farewell  speeches.  Some  of  these 
speeches  bade  defiance  to  the  Union,  while 
others  were  made  in  a  spirit  of  regret 
and  sorrow. 


The  Man  of  the  People  135 

Saying  Good-by  to  Old  Friends 

When  the  time  drew  near  to  go  to 
Washington,  Lincoln  and  his  wife  went  to 
Chicago.  Here  Mrs.  Lincoln  bought  the 
first  silk  dress  she  ever  wore.  While  they 
were  unpacking  Lincoln  said,  with  a  twin- 
kle in  his  eye:  "Well,  wife,  if  nothing  else 
conies  out  of  this  scrape,  we  are  going  to 
have  some  new  clothes,  are  we  not?" 

Although  soon  to  be  President,  Lincoln 
had  not  forgotten  "the  simple  woman 
who  had  brought  sunshine  into  his  deso- 
late boyhood,  whose  faithful  hands  had 
clothed  him,  and  who  had  given  him  a 
chance  to  go  to  school."  He  first  jour- 
neyed to  the  grave  of  his  father,  and/ then 
turned  his  steps  to  Charleston,  Illinois, 
where  his  mother  now  made  her  home. 
The  people  were  gathered  in  great  crowds 
to  cheer  him  to  her  humble  house.  The 
parting  with  his  mother  after  the  visit 
was  very  sad,  for  she  feared  that  bad  men 
would  kill  him.  Tears  ran  down  •  his 
cheeks  as  he  bent  to  kiss  her  good-by. 


ijtf  Abraham  Lincoln 

Once  more  in  Springfield,  he  was  visited 
by  many  old  friends.  Even  Hannah 
Armstrong  came  from  Clary's  Grove  to 
bid  Lincoln  farewell. 

He  went  to  the  law  office  of  Lincoln 
and  Herndon.  He  threw  himself  upon 
the  old  office  sofa.  A  far-away  look  was 
in  his  face.  "Billy,  how  long  have  we 
been  together?"  he  asked  his  partner. 

"Over  sixteen  years." 

Starting  to  go,  he  paused,  and  said 
of  the  old  signboard  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairway,  "Let  it  hang  there  undisturbed. " 
He  took  a  last  look  at  the  room  in  which 
he  had  spent  so  many  happy  hours.  Then 
he  and  his  partner  walked  slowly  down 
the  stairs. 

Herndon  wrote  this  letter  to  a  friend 
in  New  England:  "Lincoln  is  a  man  of 
heart,  ay,  as  gentle  as  a  woman's  and  as  ten- 
der— but  he  has  a  will  as  strong  as  iron. 
He,  therefore,  loves  all  mankind,  hates 
slavery,  and  every  form  of  despotism. 
On  a  question  of  justice,  right,  liberty, 
the  government,  the  Constitution,  and 


The  Man  of  the  People 


137 


the  Union,  you  may  stand  aside ;  he  will 
rule  them,  and  no  man  can  rule  him — 
no  set  of  men  can  do  it. 
There  is  no  fail  here. 
This  is  Lincoln.  You 
and  I  must  keep  the 
people  right;  God  will 
keep  Lincoln  right." 

The  time  to  say 
good-by  to  the 
people  of  Spring- 
field had  come.. 
Lincoln  was  at 
the  station,  shak- 
ing hands  with 
the  hundreds  that  came  for  a  last  look 
at  that  tall,  awkward,  yet  lovable  man. 

With  his  hand  on  the  bell  rope  the 
engineer  waited  a  few  moments  while 
Lincoln,  hat  in  hand,  spoke  his  last  words 
to  the  people  of  Springfield :  "My  friends, 
no  one  not  in  my  situation  can  appreciate 
my  feelings  of  sadness  at  this  parting. 
To  this  place  and  the  kindness  of  these 
people  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have 


Lincoln's  office  bookcase,  chair, 
and  inkstand 


138  Abraham  Lincoln 

lived  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  have 
passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man. 
Here  my  children  have  been  born  and 
one  is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  know- 
ing when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return, 
with  a  task  before  me  greater  than 
that  which  rested  upon  Washington. 
Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine 
Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot 
succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I  cannot 
fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with 
me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  every- 
where for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope 
that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care 
commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your 
prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you 
an  affectionate  farewell."  Lincoln  was 
greatly  moved  by  the  show  of  the  people's 
affection.  They  stood  with  uncovered 
heads,  and  with  eyes  full  of  tears,  and 
watched  the  car  pull  out  of  sight.  Lincoln 
remained  on  the  platform  of  the  car  as 
long  as  he  could  see  any  one.  He  then 
went  in.  Thus  closed  another  chapter  in 
the  book  of  his  career. 


The  Man  of  the  People  139 


On  the  Way  to  Washington 

The  people  saw  the  coming  of  the  storm 
and  were  most  anxious  to  look  upon  the 
man  who  was  to  guide  the  Ship  of  State 
through  its  troubled  waters.  At  every 
station  they  greeted  him,  and  hung  on 
his  words.  Every  word  seemed  to  bear 
in  its  tone  the  fate  of  the  nation.  The 
plain  people  were  mightily  pleased  with 
what  they  saw  and  heard. 

Lincoln  was  two  weeks  on  the  journey, 
for  then  trains  traveled  much  more  slowly 
than  now.  Besides,  the  party  generally 
stayed  over  night  to  give  the  people  an 
opportunity  to  shake  hands  with  Lincoln 
and  to  hear  him  speak. 

The  first  stop  for  the  night  was  in 
Indianapolis.  Here  the  people  seized  Lin- 
coln's carriage  and  carried  him  more  than 
a  square.  At  Cincinnati  a  great  multitude 
gave  him  a  rousing  reception. 

Once  before  he  had  spoken  in  Cincinnati. 
Then  as  now  he  said  what  he  had  to  say 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  the  Kentuckians.  "We  mean  to  recog- 
nize and  bear  in  mind  always  that  you 
have  as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms  as 
other  people,  or  as  we  claim  to  have." 
When  he  had  finished  speaking,  the  crowd 
rushed  upon  him,  patted  him  on  the  back, 
and  almost  tore  his  arm  off  in  order  to 
show  that  they  were  with  him. 

At  Columbus,  Ohio,  Lincoln  spoke  to  the 
Legislature.  In  Pittsburgh,  where  he  talked 
on  the  protection  of  American  industry, 
the  people  went  wild,  and  it  required  the 
police  and  the  militia  to  protect  him  from 
the  noisy  crowd.  At  Cleveland,  Buffalo, 
Albany,  and  New  York  great  cheering 
crowds  greeted  him. 

Lincoln  did  not  reach  Philadelphia 
until  February  21.  Here  he  heard  there 
was  a  plot  to  kill  him  while  he  was  going 
through  Baltimore. 

On  the  morrow,  Washington's  birthday, 
Lincoln  raised  a  new  flag  over  Independ- 
ence Hall.  A  vast  crowd  witnessed  the 
ceremony  and  listened  to  his  address.  It 
was  an  unprepared  address  and  came 


The  Man  of  the  People 


141 


Raising  the  flag  over  Independence  Hall 

direct  from  the  heart:  "I  can  say  in 
return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments 
I  entertain  have  been  drawn  .  .  .  from  the 
sentiments  which  originated  in  and  were 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I  have 
never  had  a  feeling,  politically,  that  did 
not  spring  from  the  sentiments  embodied 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  .  .  . 
Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved 
on  that  basis?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider 
myself  one  of  the  happiest  men  in  the 
world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  ...  But 
if  this  country  cannot  be  saved  without 
giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to 
say  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this 
spot  than  surrender  it." 

After  bidding  the  people  of  the  Quaker 
City  good-by,  he  went  to  his  hotel  and 
told  his  companions  that  he  would  go 
direct  to  Washington.  He  knew  how 
people  would  look  at  this  plan  of  going 
to  the  capital  of  the  country  "like  a  thief 
in  the  night,"  but  Lincoln  was  persuaded 
it  was  best  to  take  no  risks,  although  he 
felt  and  we  now  know  there  was  very 
little  truth  in  the  stories  of  assassination 
which  had  come  to  him. 

He  went  to  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  spoke  to  the  members  of  the 


The  Man  of  the  People 

Legislature.  He  left  his  good  wife  crying 
in  the  hotel,  and  slipped  out  by  a  back 
door.  A  carriage  was  waiting  for  him, 
and  a  train  bore  him  back  to  Philadelphia. 

The  night  train  for  Washington  had 
been  halted  to  receive  an  "important 
package."  When  Lincoln  was  aboard  the 
train  the  "important  package"  was  handed 
the  conductor,  and  the  train  pulled  out. 
Baltimore  was  passed  in  safety.  Washing- 
ton was  reached  at  six  o'clock,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  the  whole  country  knew 
that  Lincoln  had  arrived  unharmed  at 
the  capital. 

Only  Senator  Seward  and  a  friend  from 
Illinois  met  Lincoln  at  the  station  and 
went  with  him  to  Willard's  Hotel. 

Lincoln  Inaugurated  President 

Washington  did  not  expect  Lincoln  so 
soon.  The  news  of  his  arrival  spread  like 
wildfire.  Crowds  gathered  to  see  him. 
The  members  of  the  "Peace  Convention" 
came  and  were  introduced.  Some  came 


Abraham  Lincoln 


to  talk  about  his  Cabinet.  Others  came 
to  tell  him  how  to  save  the  country, 
and  still  others  out  of  curiosity. 

Lincoln  had  chosen  his  Cabinet  in 
Springfield  on  the  night  after  election. 
Statesmen  and  politicians  gave  their  ad- 
vice for  or  against  the  men  Lincoln  had 
thought  ought  to  be  his  chief  advisers. 
But  no  reason  given  by  any  one  led  him 
to  change  his  mind. 

Now  more  serious  business  than  talking 
about  the  Cabinet  demanded  Lincoln's 
attention.  Rumors  were  thick  that  the 
President  was  to  be  murdered  before  or 
on  Inauguration  Day.  Washington  con- 
tained thousands  and  thousands  of  people 
who  did  not  wish  Lincoln  well. 

General  Scott  was  commander  of  the 
army.  He  had  gathered  his  soldiers  and 
put  them  in  different  places  to  keep  order 
or  to  be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to 
put  down  any  effort  to  prevent  Lincoln's 
inauguration. 

As  the  fourth  of  March  drew  near, 
hundreds  of  clerks  in  Washington,  and 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

officers  in  the  army,  were  resigning  and 
going  South  to  join  the  Confederacy. 
This  threw  things  into  confusion,  and 
gave  Lincoln  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 

On  Inauguration  Day  President  Bu- 
chanan rode  in  the  White  House  carriage 
to  Willard's  Hotel.  Down  Pennsylvania 
Avenue  Lincoln  and  the  President  moved 
between  double  rows  of  cavalry.  Little 
bands  of  riflemen  had  been  placed  on 
housetops.  Soldiers  marched  in  front  of, 
and  behind,  the  carriage. 

A  little  after  twelve  o'clock  Lincoln 
made  his  way  to  the  east  side  of  the 
unfinished  Capitol  to  read  his  inaugural 
address  and  to  take  the  oath  of  office.  \ 
great  multitude  looked  up  into  his  faa 
A  body  of  soldiers  stood  near  the  steps. 
Others  looked  with  sharp  eyes  from  their 
places  in  the  windows  of  the  Capitol,  while 
a  battery  of  flying  artillery  in  the  rear  of 
the  crowd  stood  ready  at  a  moment's 
warning.  No  such  care  had  ever  before 
been  taken  when  a  President  was  to  be 
inaugurated. 


The  Man  of  the  People  147 

As  Lincoln  stepped  forward  to  speak, 
he  took  off  his  new  silk  hat,  but  could  find 
no  place  to  put  it.  Senator  Douglas 
quickly  stepped  forward  and  took  the  hat. 
"If  I  can't  be  President,"  he  said,  "I  at 
least  can  hold  his  hat." 

Lincoln's  address  was  both  firm  and 
friendly.  (He  declared  that  he  stood  by  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  and  that  the 
Government  would  begin  war  upon  no 
one.  He  begged  the  South  not  to  go  out 
of  the  Union.  \  He  compared  North  and 
South  with  husband  and  wife  who  are 
divorced.  Husband  and  wife  may  go  out 
from  each  other's  presence,  but  not  so 
North  and  South.  They  cannot  separate. 
They  must  stay  where  they  are.  "I  am 
loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though 
passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not 
break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every 
battle  field  and  patriot  grave  to  every 
living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this 
broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely 
they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature." 

Thus  ended  one  of  the  most  touching 
appeals  ever  made  by  any  President.  It 
was  an  appeal  for  peace  and  for  the  Union. 

Washington  was  full  of  the  well-wishers 
of  the  Confederacy.  That  night  Senator 
Douglas,  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  on  his  arm, 
swept  down  the  great  hall  at  the  inaugural 
ball.  Douglas  took  great  pains  to  let  it 
be  known  that  he  was  standing  by  Lin- 
coln in  this  hour  of  great  trial. 

The  Storm  Breaks 

The  ceremonies  over,  Lincoln  had  time 
to  think,  providing  he  kept  out  of  the  way 
of  the  office  seekers.  Swarms  of  them 
dogged  his  footsteps  wherever  he  turned. 

One  day  the  news  came  that  Major 
Anderson,  who  commanded  the  troops  in 
Fort  Sumter  in  Charleston  Harbor,  had 
food  supplies  for  only  a  short  time.  The 
great  men  of  the  Cabinet  seemed  to  be  in 


The  Man  of  the  People  149 

favor  of  giving  up  Fort  Sumter.  General 
Scott  was  called;  he,  too,  thought  it  best 
to  surrender  this  fort  to  South  Carolina 
and  Fort  Pickens  to  Florida. 

The  President  did  not  close  his  eyes  in 
sleep  that  night.  "What  will  be  the  effect 
on  the  North  and  on  the  South?"  In  the 
dark  hours  of  the  night  it  seemed  to  Lin- 
coln like  giving  up  everything  without 
striking  a  blow.  By  morning  he  had 
made  up  his  mind.  Food  must  be  sent  to 
Fort  Sumter  and  soldiers  to  Fort  Pickens. 

Before  the  ship  with  food  reached  Fort 
Sumter  the  Confederate  cannon  had 
opened  fire.  It  was  on  a  quiet  morning 
in  April,  1 86 1,  that  a  shell  from  the 
batteries  in  Charleston  suddenly  tore  its 
way  across  the  harbor  and  opened  the 
greatest  civil  war  in  all  history. 

News  of  the  surrender  of  Fort  Sumter 
reached  the  White  House  on  Sunday 
morning.  That  same  afternoon  Douglas 
called  upon  Lincoln,  and  for  two  hours 
the  two  leaders  talked  over  the  situation. 
On  Monday  morning  Lincoln's  call  for 


150 


Abraham  Lincoln 


75,000  men  went  forth.     Parallel  with  it, 
on  the  wings  of  the  telegraph,  went  the 


The  interior  of  Fort  Sumter  after  the  bombardment 

words  of  Senator  Douglas,  that  he  was 
standing  by  the  President  in  his  resolu- 
tion "to  preserve  the  Union,  maintain 
the  Government,  and  defend  the  Federal 
capital."  ,  To  the  more  than  a  million 
Democrats  who  went  down  in  defeat  in 
1860,  this  was  a  summons  to  do  their 
duty.  How  nobly  they  answered  the  call 
of  their  leader !  The  entire  North,  as  one 
man,  sprang  to  arms! 


The  Man  of  the  People  151 

"We  will  furnish  the  largest  number 
you  will  receive,"  telegraphed  the  gover- 
nor of  Ohio.  Indiana's  number 
was  less  than  5,000 ;  but  that  state 
soon  had  10,000  men  ready  to 
march  at  a  moment's  warning. 
"You  may  have  50,000  men,"  tele- 
graphed Chandler  of  Michigan.  The 
North  was  rising. 

Nearly  100,000  were  offered  by 
the  free  states  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  call  was  for  only  75,000. 

Soon  the  news  spread  that  the 
Confederates  were  marching  on 
Washington.  Union  troops  were 
hurried  to  the  city.  But  trains 
did  not  run  fast  enough.  The 
people  of  Washington  were  fright-  ;~*5*£ 
ened.  Even  Lincoln  was  greatly  "rom 

A  ivar 

disturbed  because  Union  troops  did      cane 

presented 

not  come  as  soon  as  expected.  to  L™c°l» 
"Why  don't  they  come!  Why  don't  they 
come ! "  he  was  overheard  to  exclaim.  But 
he  did  not  dare  let  the  people  know  he 
was  even  anxious. 


152  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  first  troops  to  arrive  came  from 
Pennsylvania,  four  hundred  sixty  men.  A 
regiment  of  troops  from  Massachusetts 
fought  their  way  through  the  streets  of 
Baltimore  to  reach  Washington.  How 
glad  the  President  and  the  people  of 
Washington  were  to  see  these  soldiers  as 
they  marched  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
drums  beating,  flags  flying,  and  bayonets 
gleaming !  The  capital  was  safe. 

In  July  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  took 
place  across  the  Potomac  from  Washing- 
ton. This  was  the  first  battle  of  any  size 
and  was  an  overwhelming  defeat  for  the 
Union  troops.  Back  to  Washington  rushed 
the  defeated  troops  in  wild  confusion. 
Congressmen  and  citizens  who  had  gone 
out  to  see  the  battle  came  back  and  de- 
clared the  Confederates  would  be  in  the 
city  before  morning.  The  troops,  tired, 
hungry,  defeated,  came  straggling  in. 
Some  fell  in  their  tracks.  Many  people 
began  to  leave  the  city.  Lincoln  was  the 
calmest  man  in  Washington. 

Congress  gave  Lincoln  all  the  men  and 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

From  a  statue  by  Adolph  A.  Weinman,  in  the  Court-House 
Square  at  Hodgenville,  Kentucky 


The  Man  of  the  People  153 

money  asked  for.  Lincoln  appointed  George 
B.  McClellan  commander,  and  that  general 
made  a  fine  army  out  of  the  men  sent  to 
Washington. 

Shutting  Up  the  Ports  of  the 
South 

What  if  Lincoln  should  order  the  ports 
of  the  South  closed  ?  Would  it  not  starve 
the  South  by  shutting  in  her  cotton  and 
shutting  out  clothing,  guns,  and  other 
things  which  came  from  Europe  ?  Lincoln 
decided  to  close  the  ports  and  ordered  the 
little  navy  to  keep  Confederates  in  and 
foreigners  out. 

Without  cotton  from  the  South  the 
cotton  mills  of  England  will  stop.  Thou- 
sands of  men  will  be  out  of  work.  What 
will  England  say? 

The  governments  of  England  and  France 
agreed  to  say  that  the  Confederates  must 
be  treated  as  men  with  the  "rights  of  war." 

Lincoln  had  not  expected  this  action, 
but  could  not  help  it.  The  Confederates 
were  greatly  pleased. 


154  Abraham  Lincoln 

To  encourage  England  and  France  the 
Confederacy  sent  over  two  men  named 
Mason  and  Slidell.  These  men  were  sent 
to  ask  England  and  France  to  declare  that 
the  states  of  the  Confederacy  should  be 
looked  upon  as  an  independent  country. 

Just  as  these  two  men  were  escaping  on 
the  English  steamer  "Trent"  they  were 
captured  by  a  United  States  war  vessel 
commanded  by  Captain  Wilkes. 

When  the  news  reached  the  North  the 
people  were  wild  with  joy,  but  Lincoln 
shook  his  head  and  said,  "We  fought 
Great  Britain  [1812]  for  insisting  .  .  . 
on  the  right  to  do  exactly  what  Captain 
Wilkes  has  done.  If  Great  Britain  shall 
.  .  .  demand  their  [the  prisoners]  release, 
we  must  give  them  up." 

England  was  furious.  She  started  sol- 
diers to  Canada,  and  her  government  wrote 
an  ugly  letter  which  good  Queen  Victoria 
softened  a  great  deal  before  permitting  it 
to  be  sent.  It  was  indeed  great  good 
fortune  that  England  and  the  United 
States  had  two  cool-headed  rulers. 


The  Man  oj  the  People  155 

Mason  and  Slidell  reached  England,  but 
tried  in  vain  to  secure  favorable  action  for 
the  Confederacy.  They  had  hoped  that 
England  and  France  would  at  least  do 
something  to  open  their  ports. 

The  South,  in  the  meantime,  was  depend- 
ing on  the  "Merrimac"  to  break  the 
blockade.  This  vessel  had  been  covered 
with  a  coat  of  iron  in  Norfolk  Harbor. 
It  had  a  great  iron  beak  with  which  it 
could  ram  wooden  vessels.  Near  Norfolk 
were  the  Union  vessels.  The  "Merrimac" 
now  moved  out  to  the  attack.  The 
shot  from  the  Union  vessels  rolled  off  her 
iron  back  as  hail  rolls  off  a  roof!  She 
sank  the  wooden  vessels.  What  was  to 
hinder  her  from  going  up  the  Potomac 
to  Washington?  The  President  quickly 
ordered  canal  boats  filled  with  stone  to  be 
sunk  in  a  narrow  place  in  the  Potomac. 

Lincoln  hoped  the  "Monitor,"  which 
was  on  her  way  to  Hampton  Roads, 
would  meet  the  ' '  Merrimac. ' '  This  strange 
craft,  looking  "like  a  cheese  box  on  a 
raft,"  reached  Hampton  Roads  and  took 


156 


Abraham  Lincoln 


her  place  by  the  light  of  the  burning 
"Congress,"  a  vessel  set  on  fire  by  the 
"Merrimac." 


From  Mace's  School  Iliiiory  of  the  United  Stales 

The  struggle  between  the  "Monitor"  and  the  "Merrimac" 

The  next  morning  the  two  ironclads 
met  in  battle.  It  was  a  battle  of  giants. 
"Why  do  you  stop  firing?"  asked  an 
officer  on  the  "Merrimac."  The  gunner 
replied,  "I  can  do  her  as  much  damage  by 
snapping  my  thumb  at  her  every  two 
minutes  and  a  half." 

It  was  a  drawn  battle.  But  the  North 
could  make  scores  of  ironclads,  while  the 
South  could  make  but  few.  Wooden  ves- 
sels now  began  to  go  out  of  use,  and  iron 
ones  to  take  their  place. 


The  Man  of  the  People  757 

In  the  meantime  Lincoln  had  ordered 
a  forward  march  of  McClellan's  army. 
The  army  went  to  Yorktown  and  then 
turned  up  the  Peninsula  toward  Rich- 
mond. There  was  hard  fighting,  and 
many  days  of  it.  General  Lee,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  Confederates,  hurled 
McClellan's  forces  back.  Lincoln  was 
greatly  disappointed  in  McClellan's  fail- 
ure to  take  Richmond. 

But  there  was  no  time  to  "cry  over 
spilled  milk,"  for  Lee  was  plunging  into 
Maryland.  McClellan  was  sent  after  him. 
The  two  armies  met  at  Antietam.  A 
great  battle  was  fought.  Lee  recrossed 
the  Potomac,  but  McClellan  did  not  follow 
up  Lee's  army  as  Lincoln  had  ordered/ 

Trying  to  Find  a  Great  General 

McClellan,  who  had  taken  the  place  of 
General  Scott,  was  a  great  man  in  many 
ways,  but  he  believed  that  he  never  had 
the  army  quite  ready,  or  never  had  enough 
men.  Lincoln  had  been  very  patient  with 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

him,  but  when  he  failed  to  strike  Lee  a 
blow  before  the  Confederates  crossed  the 
Potomac,  Lincoln  dismissed  him. 

General  Burnside  was  put  in  his  place, 
much  against  his  wish.  After  getting 
the  Union  army  in  shape  he  crossed  the 
Rappahannock  River  and  stormed  the 
heights  of  Fredericksburg.  But  Lee,  be- 
hind his  breastworks,  defeated  the  Union 
army.  Burnside  had  failed. 

Lincoln  named  General  Hooker  for  the 
head  of  the  army.  He  fought  the  battle 
of  Chancellorsville,  but  Lee  again  over- 
whelmed the  Union  forces  and  started  with 
his  veterans  to  invade  the  North. 

Lincoln  was  watching  his  movements. 
A  great  fear  fell  on  the  North.  The 
President  removed  Hooker  and  put  Gen- 
eral Meade  in  his  place.  A  terrific  battle 
lasting  three  days  was  fought  at  Gettys- 
burg, Pennsylvania.  On  the  third  day 
Pickett,  a  Confederate  general,  made  his 
famous  charge,  but  the  Union  troops  held 
their  position. 

After   the   battle    Lincoln   commanded 


The  Man  of  the  People 

Meade  to  strike  Lee.  But  a  second  time 
Lee  was  permitted  to  cross  the  Potomac. 
It  was  now  midsummer,  1863,  and  very 
few  Union  victories  had  been  won  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  United  States. 

Early  in .  the  war  Lincoln  began  watch- 
ing the  movements  of  a  man  in  the  West. 
General  Grant  had  been  in  business  at 
Galena,  Illinois.  He  was  a  West  Point 
man.  Grant  captured  Fort  Henry  on  the 
Tennessee  and  moved  against  Fort  Donel- 
son  on  the  Cumberland,  which  he  captured 
after  hard  fighting.  Lincoln  was  greatly 
pleased  with  the  dispatch  he  sent  the 
commander  of  Fort  Donelson:  "No  terms 
except  unconditional  and  immediate  sur- 
render can  be  accepted.  I  propose  to  move 
immediately  upon  your  works." 

At  Pittsburg  Landing  Grant  fought  a 
two  days'  battle  and  won.  But  the  great 
loss  of  men  and  the  shattered  state  of 
the  army  caused  men  to  demand  Grant's 
removal.  "I  can't  spare  him.  He  fights," 
was  Lincoln's  reply.  From  Corinth  to 
Vicksburg  there  was  plenty  of  fighting. 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

Then  followed  the  terrible  siege  and  the 
surrender  of  Vicksburg.  Another  outburst 
of  joy  ran  through  the  North.  There  was  a 
serenade  at  the  White  House  that  night. 
"I  do  most  sincerely  thank  Almighty  God 
for  the  occasion  on  which  you  have 
called,"  said  Lincoln  to  the  serenaders. 

Bragg  was  besieging  Rosecrans  in  Chat- 
tanooga when  General  Grant  was  sent  to 
take  command.  The  siege  was  raised,  and 
Bragg  was  driven  away.  Now  Lincoln 
waited  no  longer.  He  had  found  the  man 
he  wanted.  General  Grant  was  called  to 
Washington  and  made  commander  of  all 
the  Union  armies  (1864). 

Uprooting  Slavery 

Long  before  this  time  Lincoln  had  begun 
to  uproot  slavery.  Early  in  the  war 
Congress  passed  a  resolution  that  the 
purpose  of  the  war  was  to  restore  the 
Union  and  not  to  injure  slavery  in  any 
way.  This  resolution  the  President  signed 
in  good  faith.  But  slavery  would  not  be 


The  Man  of  the  People  161 

let  alone.  As  soon  as  the  war  was  under 
way,  the  Confederates  began  to  use  ne- 
groes as  cooks,  as  servants  in  the  army, 
and  to  aid  in  making  forts.  Not  only 
this,  but  thousands  of  negroes  at  home 
were  raising  crops  to  feed  the  Confederate 
armies. 

Lincoln  soon  saw  that  all  these  things 
permitted  every  white  man  of  the  South 
to  go  to  the  front  with  a  gun  in  his 
hand.  When,  therefore,  General  Butler 
declared  the  negroes  who  came  to  his 
army  "  contraband  of  war,"  Lincoln  per- 
mitted it.  By  "contraband  of  war"  was 
meant  that  these  negroes  were  property 
being  used  in  the  war. 

Congress  went  still  further  and  declared 
that  all  slaves  who  were  engaged  in  fight- 
ing for  the  Confederacy  should  be  free. 

Lincoln  saw  that  slavery  would  be  wiped 
out  by  the  war.  He  wished  to  hasten  it, 
and  so  began  to  urge  the  border  states  to 
begin  the  work  of  freeing  their  own  slaves. 
He  had  Congress  pass  a  resolution  to  pay 
the  masters  if  they  would  set  their  slaves 


1 62  Abraham  Lincoln 

free.  Lincoln  had  a  warm  place  in  his 
heart  for  the  noble  battle  the  Union  men 
in  these  states  were  carrying  on.  Yet  not 
a  single  slave  was  set  free  by  any  of  these 
states. 

In  the  summer  of  1862,  after  this  plan 
had  failed,  Lincoln  was  thinking  about 
sending  out  a  proclamation  of  emanci- 
pation. He  called  his  Cabinet  together  to 
ask  their  advice  as  to  the  best  time  for 
sending  forth  such  a  proclamation.  "Let 
us  wait,"  said  a  member,  "until  the  North- 
ern arms  have  won  a  great  victory,  then 
send  forth  this  proclamation."  So  it  was 
put  aside  to  wait  for  a  victory. 

The  victory  at  Antietam  came  in  the 
fall.  Lincoln  thought  the  victory  not  s^ch 
a  one  as  he  would  like  to  have  had,  but 
concluded  to  send  forth  the  great  proc- 
lamation giving  liberty  to  the  slaves. 

This  blow  did  not  fall  at  once.  Lincoln 
gave  the  Confederate  states  one  hundred 
days  in  which  to  stop  fighting  and  save 
slavery.  They  did  not  do  so,  and  on 
January  i,  1863,  the  proclamation  became 


164  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  law.  Many  of  the  Confederates  were  very- 
angry  over  this  act  of  Lincoln's.  President 
Jefferson  Davis  declared  it  was  a  wicked 
measure.  But  the  time  came  when  the 
Confederacy  itself  passed  an  act  giving  free- 
dom to  slaves  who  fought  for  the  South. 
Lincoln  did  not  free  the  slaves  in  the 
way  he  wished.  He  believed  in  destroying 
slavery  little  by  little ;  but  war  forced  him 
to  free  the  slaves  at  once. 

Life  in  the  White  House 

By  birth  both  Lincoln  and  his  wife  were 
Kentuckians.  To  that  little  family  came 
much  of  the  sorrow  that  belonged  to  those 
who  had  kinsfolk  fighting  on  both  sides. 

In  the  dreadful  loss  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, among  the  Confederates  was  a  brother 
who  had  been,  in  his  younger  days,  the 
pride  and  joy  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's  heart. 
Now  he  lay  cold  in  death  on  the  field  of 
battle  as  his  sister  opened  a  great  Union 
ball  to  celebrate  Grant's  victory. 

The  saddest  event  of  the  White  House 


The  Man  of  the  People 


165 


was  the  death  of  Willie  Lincoln.  He  was 

a  bright,  manly  little  fellow  a  little  more 

than  twelve  years  old,  and 

the  father's  grief  was  indeed 

great.    He  shut  the  doors  of 

the  White  House  and  in  his 

sorrow  found    help   in    the 

words  spoken  by  the    Rev. 

Mr.  Vinton,  a  friend  of  the 

family.     Only  little  Tad  was 

left  to    cheer    him,   for  his 

eldest  son,  Robert,  was  away 

at  Harvard. 

But  not  all  the  happen- 
ings at  the  White  House  Willie  Lincoln 
were  sad.  The  receptions  took  place  reg- 
ularly, and  the  President  shook  hands 
with  the  people  in  the  long  line  as  they 
passed  by.  If  there  chanced  to  be  a 
friend  among  them,  Lincoln  whispered  to 
him  to  call  "between  hours." 

When  the  cares  of  office  were  put  aside, 
Lincoln  seemed  himself  again.  He  forgot 
his  sorrows  and  gave  full  vent  to  the  joy 
of  story-telling.  Often  men  who  saw  him 


i66 


Abraham  Lincoln 


for  the  first  time  drew  unjust  conclusions 
concerning  his  character.  They  did  not 
know  of  the  long  hours 
given  to  business,  nor  of 
his  mighty  sorrow  over  the 
dead  and  wounded  after  a 
great  battle. 

But  here  in  the  quiet  of 
his  own  rooms  he  was  the 
Illinois  lawyer  again,  rid- 
ding the  old  circuit.  Here 
he  told  stories  and  laughed 
with  his  friends  to  his 
heart's  content. 

Tad  Lincoln,  .  1  .  1   1   • 

in  the  uniform  of  a       A  great  man  blamed  him 

lieutenant  of  the  ..  1-1 

united  states  Army  one  day  for  being  so  light- 
hearted  and  so  free  from  care  while  all 
around  him  were  cast  down.  Suddenly 
Lincoln  became  sad  and  said,  "I  should 
die  were  it  not  for  these  hours  of  good 
cheer." 

Lincoln  was  not  a  man  who  believed 
in  ceremony,  but  he  could  use  it  when 
there  was  need.  Senator  Charles  Summer 
loved  formality,  and  the  President  knew  it. 


The  Man  of  the  People  167 

So  when  Sumner  called,  Lincoln  always 
received  him  with  the  greatest  dignity. 
When  the  Senator  had  departed,  Lincoln 
"put  on  his  easy  manners,"  and  said: 
"When  among  the  Romans  we  must  do 
as  Romans  do." 

One  day  he  was  made  glad  by  the  coming 
of  an  old  friend  from  Illinois.  This  friend 
kept  speaking  to  him  as  "Mr.  President." 
"Now  call  me  Lincoln,  and  I'll  promise 
not  to  tell,"  said  the  President,  jokingly. 

The  American  people  never  have  had, 
and  perhaps  never  will  have,  a  more 
democratic  President.  He  loved  all  men, 
especially  the  plain  people.  He  greatly 
enjoyed  the  days  on  which  he  kept  open 
house.  He  liked  to  take  the  people  by 
the  hand  and  look  into  their  faces.  He 
called  such  occasions  "public  opinion 
baths."  When  one  of  these  "open  house" 
days  was  over  he  could  truly  say  that 
he  knew  more  about  public  opinion  than 
any  man  in  Congress.  "I  don't  want  to 
know  what  Washington  society  thinks," 
he  would  say  at  times. 


168  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln's  Love  for  the  Soldier 

"I  make  the  brigadiers,  but  the  Almighty 
made  the  common  soldier,"  said  Lincoln. 
He  seemed  a  comrade.  He  took  off  his 
hat  when  he  met  the  soldier,  but  a  simple 
touching  of  the  hat  was  enough  for  the 
officer.  It  was  reported  to  Lincoln  that 
a  brigadier  and  twelve  mules  had  been 
captured  by  the  Confederates  near  Wash- 
ington. ' '  How  unfortunate !  I  can  fill 
that  brigadier's  place  in  five  minutes, 
but  mules  cost  us  two  hundred  dollars 
apiece." 

One  of  Lincoln's  duties  was  to  visit 
the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals 
near  by.  He  went  down  the  long  rows 
of  cots,  laying  his  great  hands  upon  the 
fevered  brows  of  the  men  and  speaking 
words  of  hope  and  cheer. 

A  touching  story  is  told  which  shows 
Lincoln's  generous  soul.  A  boy  of  nine- 
teen, a  soldier,  was  ordered  to  escort 
Lincoln  through  the  hospital  at  City 
Point,  Virginia.  "I  could  not  but  note 


The  Man  of  the  People  169 

his  gentleness,  his  friendly  greetings  to  the 
sick  and  wounded."  Finally  they  came  to 
three  wards  of  sick  and  wounded  South- 
ern soldiers.  The  young  man  said  to  Lin- 
coln: "Mr.  President,  you  won't  want  to 
go  in  there ;  they  are  only  rebels. "  "I  will 
never  forget,"  said  the  young  soldier,  "how 
he  stopped  and  gently  laid  his  large  hand 
upon  my  shoulder  and  quietly  answered, 
'You  mean  Confederates.'  And  I  have 
meant  Confederates  ever  since. 

"I  could  not  see  but  that  he  was  just 
as  kind,  his  hand- shakings  just  as  hearty, 
his  interest  just  as  real  for  the  welfare  of 
the  men,  as  when  he  was  among  our  own 
soldiers." 

When  Stonewall  Jackson  was  slain  at  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville  a  Washington 
paper  published  an  article  giving  high 
praise  to  that  noble  defender  of  the  Con- 
federate cause.  Lincoln  wrote  a  personal 
letter  to  the  editor,  praising  him  for  the 
stand  he  had  taken. 

As  he  was  going  to  a  hospital  one  day  the 
driver  came  near  running  over  a  young 


770  Abraham  Lincoln 

blind  man.  Lincoln  got  out  and  saw  that 
both  eyes  had  been  shot  out.  He  took  him 
by  the  hand,  asked  for  his  name, 
the  time  of  his  service,  and  where 
he  was  wounded.  He  then  told 
the  young  man  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  speaking.  The  sol- 
dier's face  lighted  with  joy.  He 
thanked  the  President  for  his 
kindness.  The  next  day  a  commis- 
sion as  first  lieutenant  was  put  into 
the  soldier's  hands.  It  carried  with 
it  three -fourths  pay  for  life. 

One   day,    for   good   reasons    it 
seemed,  Stanton  refused  a  soldier's 
request.      Early  on  the  following 
courtier    morning  Lincoln  hastened  to  the 
Linen's    man's   home   and   asked   his   for- 

favorite  .  T  T  1,1  1  1  •          • 

cane,  it    givencss.     He  took  the  soldier  in 

was  made     ,   .  ,   . 

from  a  rib  his   carriage   and   helped    him   to 

of  the  r 

"Merrimac,"  get  what   he    wanted.     Secretary 

ana  was  J 

pLinecoindb°  Stanton  apologized  for  having  re- 

%^7mLT*  fused  the  soldier's  request.     "No, 

no!    You  did  right,"  said  Lincoln.    "If  we 

had  such  a.  soft-headed  old  fool  as  I  am 


The  Man  of  the  People  171 

in  your  place,  there  would  be  no  rules 
that  army  or  country  could  depend  upon." 

One  time  he  said  to  General  Butler: 
"I  should  like  to  ride  along  the  lines  and 
see  the  boys."  So  along  the  lines  of  sol- 
diers he  went  until  within  three  hundred 
yards  of  the  Confederate  pickets.  "You 
are  a  fair  rifle  shot.  They  may  open  fire 
on  you,"  said  Butler.  "The  commander 
in  chief  must  show  no  cowardice  in  the 
presence  of  his  soldiers,  whatever  he  may 
feel,"  replied  Lincoln. 

Every  soldier  who  carried  a  musket  was 
a  son  of  Lincoln's.  All  soldiers  were  his 
children,  and  hardly  more  than  children 
were  the  defenders  of  the  Union.  Of  the 
two  and  a  half  million  that  enlisted  for 
the  war,  more  than  two  million  were  boys 
under  twenty-one. 

No  soldier  in  trouble  needed  a  great 
man  to  see  Lincoln  for  him.  His  own 
story  was  all  the  proof  Lincoln  needed. 
"If  he  has  no  friends,"  said  the  President, 
"I'll  be  his  friend." 

The  story  is  often  told  of  William  Scott, 


if 2  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  soldier  boy  who  was  condemned  to  be 
shot  for  sleeping  at  his  post.  The  boy 
was  born  among  the  hills  of  Vermont. 
When  the  war  came  he  was  among  the 
first  to  enlist.  As  the  story  goes,  the  army, 
hard  pressed,  had  marched  forty-eight 
hours  without  sleep.  A  young  friend  of 
William  Scott's  was  too  sick  to  stand 
guard,  and  Scott  volunteered  to  take  his 
place.  But  sleep  overtook  him  while 
standing  guard.  Now  he  must  die  for  it. 

To  die  in  battle  would  be  glorious,  but 
to  die  the  death  of  a  coward  at  the  hands 
of  his  comrades  was  more  than  a  brave 
heart  could  endure. 

President  Lincoln  heard  of  the  case  and 
went  to  the  tent  where  William  Scott  was 
kept  under  guard.  He  talked  to  him  of 
his  old  home,  of  his  schoolmates,  of  his 
parents,  and  particularly  of  his  mother. 
The  boy  showed  him  her  picture,  which 
he  took  from  his  pocketbook.  The  lad 
could  not  speak,  so  deep  was  his  feeling. 
Lincoln  was  touched  by  the  boy's  simple 
story. 


The  Man  of  the  People  i/j 

"You  are  not  going  to  be  shot  to-mor- 
row,"  said  the  President.     "I  am  going 


"The  boy  showed  him  her  picture" 

to  send  you  back  to  your  regiment. 
Now,  what  do  you  intend  to  pay  for  all  of 
this?"  The  poor  boy  could  not  speak  at 
first,  he  was  so  overcome.  Pretty  soon 
he  said  that  he  did  not  know.  His  parents 


174  Abraham  Lincoln 

were  poor,  but  he  was  sure  they  would  do 
all  they  could.  There  was  a  small  sum 
in  the  savings  bank  and  the  parents  could 
mortgage  the  old  farm.  There  was  the 
bounty  and  his  pay.  Perhaps,  too,  his 
comrades  would  raise  some.  Would  it  all 
be  enough? 

But  Lincoln  shook  his  head  and  said: 
"My  bill  is  a  great  deal  more  than  that. 
It  is  a  very  large  one.  Your  friends,  your 
family,  your  farm  cannot  pay  it.  There 
is  only  one  man  in  the  world  who  can  pay 
it,  and  his  name  is  William  Scott.  If  from 
this  day  he  does  his  duty  as  a  soldier,  then 
the  debt  will  be  paid."  His  hand  rested 
kindly  on  the  boy's  head.  He  looked  full 
into  his  face  while  the  boy  pledged  his  life 
to  the  Union. 

How  soon  William  Scott  paid  the  debt! 
In  that  fatal  Peninsular  Campaign  he  and 
his  young  comrades  were  the  first  to 
charge  in  the  face  of  blazing  rifle  pits. 
When  the  retreat  was  sounded,  Scott  was 
among  those  that  came  not.  He  had 
paid  the  debt  in  full 


The  Man  of  the  People  175 

Elected  Again 

When  the  war  began,  Lincoln  had  the 
support  of  the  people  in  the  North.  In 
the  death  of  Douglas  he  suffered  a  great 
loss.  Very  likely  Douglas  would  have  held 
all  Northern  Democrats  faithful  to  the 
Union.  As  it  was,  the  great  .  majority 
remained  steadfast.  Freeing  the  negroes 
was  another  thing  that  tended  to  drive 
men  to  vote  against  Lincoln.  They  said 
it  is  now  not  a  war  for  the  Union  but  a 
struggle  to  free  the  slaves.  How  strange 
it  was  that  in  the  North  so  many  people 
were  opposed  to  setting  the  slaves  free. 
They  showed  their  opposition  when  it 
came  to  electing  Congressmen  in  the  fall 
of  1862.  Many  of  the  great  states  that 
had  given  Lincoln  a  big  majority  in  1860 
now  turned  and  voted  for  Democratic 
Congressmen. 

Some  of  his  own  party  also  gave  him 
trouble.  They  were  the  men  who  stood 
for  strong  measures.  They  blamed  Lin- 
coln because  he  did  not  turn  General 


if 6  Abraham  Lincoln 

McClellan  out  long  before  he  did.  They 
early  called  for  freeing  the  negroes  and 
thought  Lincoln  was  too  slow.  These  men 
hit  upon  General  Fremont  as  the  man  to 
be  President  in  Lincoln's  stead.  Fremont 
had  been  the  first  candidate  of  the  Re- 
publican party  for  President.  Now  they 
wrote  and  talked  a  great  deal  about  him 
for  the  Presidency,  but  when  it  came  to 
the  test  only  a  few  hundred  met  and  nomi- 
nated Fremont.  Finally  he  withdrew. 

Lincoln  was  really  the  candidate  of  the 
plain  people.  The  politicians  had  tried 
to  get  Chase,  his  great  financial  secretary, 
to  run  against  him  for  the  nomination  in 
1864,  as  he  had  done  in  1860.  Chase  was 
willing,  but  the  people  were  not. 

The  spring  and  summer  were  gloomy 
times.  The  Republicans  changed  their 
name  to  the  National  Union  party  to  hold 
the  votes  of  the  men  who  would  not  vote 
for  Republicans.  The  great  Union  party 
met  at  Baltimore  and  named  Abraham 
Lincoln  for  President  and  Andrew  Johnson 
for  Vice-president.  The  convention  was 


The  Man  of  the  People 


177 


bubbling  over  with  Lincoln  enthusiasm. 
It  declared  in  favor  of  pushing  the 
for  the  freedom  of  the  slaves, 
and  denounced  all  who  were  not 
in  favor  of  saving  the  Union. 

But  the  awful  loss  of  life  in 
the  Wilderness  Campaign  soon 
checked  the  spirits  of  the  Union 
party.  The  President  himself 
was  about  to  give  up  hope  of 
reelection. 

Those  Democrats  in  favor  of 
ending  the  war  were  bold  and 
aggressive.  At  their  conven- 
tion in  Chicago  they  declared 
the  war  a  failure,  and  made  an 
out  and  out  demand  for  peace. 
McClellan  was  nominated  to 
run  against  Lincoln.  But  hard- 
ly had  the  Democrats  reached  TheLincolnTmver 
home  before  a  number  of  bril-  ^0uthwark^hULon- 
liant  victories  proved  the  war  fkTstoZei'wa'f'm/t 

r    -1  1  ,  1  by  contributions 

was  not  a  failure,  and  that  peace  half  in  English 

,  ..  .    ,        ,         sixpences  and  half 

bOUnd    tO    COme    With    the    in  American  dimes 


CourtMj  of  The 
Youth's  Companion 


Confederate  armies  broken  and  shattered. 
12 


l?8  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln  was  the  same  quiet,  sad,  fun- 
loving  story-teller.  A  general  made  a 
speech  for  McClellan  for  President,  and 
some  one  ordered  him  driven  out  of  the 
army.  But  Lincoln  put  a  stop  to  this: 
"Supporting  a  general  for  the  Presidency," 
he  said,  "is  no  violation  of  army  regula- 
tions, and  as  a  question  of  taste  in  choos- 
ing between  him  and  me — well,  I'm  the 
longest,  but  he's  better  looking." 

After  the  convention  at  Baltimore  he 
said  to  a  delegation  from  the  National 
Union  League  which  came  to  congratulate 
him:  "I  do  not  allow  myself  to  suppose 
that  either  the  convention  or  the  League 
has  concluded  to  decide  that  I  am  either 
the  greatest  or  best  man  in  America,  but 
rather  .  .  .  that  it  is  not  best  to  swap 
horses  while  crossing  the  river,  and  have 
further  concluded  that  I  am  not  so  poor 
a  horse  that  they  might  not  make  a  botch 
of  it  trying  to  swap."  All  over  the  North 
this  saying  was  caught  up  and  placed  on 
banners  and  transparencies — "Don't  swap 
horses  while  crossing  the  stream." 


The  Man  of  the  People  ifp 

When  the  campaign  was  over  and  his 
election  was  certain,  Lincoln  remembered 
the  anxiety  of  Mrs.  Lincoln.  "Send  the 
word  right  over  to  Madam;  she  will  be 
more  interested  than  I  am." 

The  Last  Days  of  the  War 

When  General  Grant  left  the  White 
House  to  take  charge  of  the  armies  of 
the  Union,  Lincoln  was  satisfied  that  a 
man  had  come  whom  he  could  trust  fully. 
Grant  gave  Lincoln  his  plans.  They  were 
never  changed. 

When  Grant  took  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  and  plunged  into  the  Wilderness, 
he  ordered  General  Sherman  to  move 
against  Atlanta. 

While  Grant  was  hammering  away  at 
Lee's  army,  Admiral  Farragut  entered 
Mobile  Bay  and  broke  the  naval  power 
of  the  Confederates. 

The  days  of  the  Confederacy  were  num- 
bered. The  order  had  gone  forth  to  take 
the  government  away  from  Richmond. 


i8o  Abraham  Lincoln 

President  Davis  was  gone,  and  the  army 
of  Lee  was  going  southward  to  join  the 
army  of  General  Johnston. 

One  morning  in  April,  1865,  Sheridan's 
cavalry  stood  across  Lee's  line  of  retreat. 
Lee  could  go  no  farther.  He  surrendered. 
A  few  days  later  Johnston  surrendered  to 
Sherman.  The  war  was  over. 

Before  the  surrender  Lincoln  visited 
Grant's  army  at  City  Point.  Here  he  had 
a  restful  stay  of  ten  days  right  in  the 
midst  of  the  common  soldiers  he  loved  so 
well.  Cheer  upon  cheer  greeted  him 
wherever  he  went.  Here  he  was  when  the 
news  came  that  Richmond  had  fallen. 

"I  want  to  see  Richmond,"  Lincoln 
said.  He  went  by  the  river  in  a  twelve- 
oared  barge  to  the  capital  of  the  Con- 
federacy. Little  Tad  was  with  him.  He 
took  his  son  by  the  hand  and,  guarded  by 
ten  soldiers,  walked  through  the  crowds 
of  shouting  negroes  to  the  center  of  the 
city.  When  he  came  to  President  Davis' 
residence,  he  went  in.  Some  one  said  that 
Davis  ought  to  be  hanged.  "Judge  not, 


1 82  Abraham  Lincoln 

that  ye  be  not  judged,"  was  his  answer. 

He  went  to  the  home  of  the  famous 
General  Pickett,  who  led  the  great  Con- 
federate charge  at  Gettysburg.  "Is  this 
where  General  Pickett  lives?"  he  asked 
of  Mrs.  Pickett,  who  appeared,  holding  a 
baby  in  her  arms.  He  told  her  who  he 
was,  and  said,  "I  come  not  as  President, 
but  as  George  Pickett 's  friend,  to  ask 
about  him  and  his  family."  He  had  known 
Pickett  before  the  war,  and  in  fact  obtained 
for  him  a  cadetship  at  West  Point.  What 
proof  of  the  generous  and  kindly  nature 
of  the  man! 

Lincoln  was  at  Grant's  headquarters  on 
the  morning  of  the  day  Lee  surrendered. 
When  talking  over  the  terms  of  peace,  he 
said,  "Get  them  to  plowing  once  and 
gathering  in  their  own  little  crops,  eating 
pop  corn  at  their  own  firesides,  and  you 
can't  get  them  to  shoulder  a  musket  again 
for  half  a  century." 

It  was  a  noble  man  who  felt  this  way 
about  the  men  who  had  fought  for  four 
years  to  destroy  the  Union. 


The  Man  of  the  People  183 

The  Death  of  Abraham  Lincoln 

From  the  beginning  of  the  war  Lincoln 
had  received  letters  containing  threats  to 
kill  him. 

He  was  good,  and  he  thought  all  other 
people  the  same.  He  never  armed  him- 
self, and  usually  went  about  the  White 
House  and  the  city  unguarded. 

The  President  was  always  glad  when 
an  opportunity  came  to  rest.  He  seldom 
sought  it  at  the  theater,  but  on  this  April 
night  "Our  American  Cousin"  was  to  be 
played. 

The  President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln  arrived 
a  bit  late.  The  actors  stopped,  and  the 
band  struck  up  "Hail  to  the  Chief."  The 
whole  audience  rose  and  cheered,  and  the 
President  bowed  in  return. 

The  play  was  begun  again,  and  was 
nearly  finished  when  the  report  of  a 
pistol  rang  out.  A  man  was  seen  to  jump 
from  the  President's  box  to  the  stage. 
He  caught  his  foot  in  the  folds  of  a  flag 
and  fell  on  the  stage,  but  rose  again. 


184  Abraham  Lincoln 

Swinging  a  knife  in  the  air,  he  cried,  "Sic 
semper  tyrannis,"  then  quickly  fled.  Some 
one  shouted,  "He  has  shot  the  President! 
Stop  him!  Stop  him!" 

The  President's  head  dropped  forward, 
and  his  eyes  closed.  He  was  taken  to 
a  house  across  the  street  and  laid  upon  a 
bed.  A  doctor  was  called,  but  the  wound 
was  mortal.  The  next  morning  he  died, 
a  little  after  seven  o'clock. 

The  assassin  was  John  Wilkes  Booth,  a 
half-crazed  actor.  He  was  hunted  down 
and  shot  in  a  barn.  Several  members  of 
Lincoln's  Cabinet  also  were  attacked.  It 
seemed  a  plan  to  destroy  the  Government 
at  one  blow. 

A  great  sorrow  fell  upon  the  land. 
Even  in  the  South  there  were  many 
who  mourned  Lincoln's  death.  Within  an 
hour  or  so  after  he  died  Washington  was 
shrouded  with  the  signs  of  mourning. 
Mourning  spread  throughout  the  land. 
Strong  men  broke  down  and  cried  as  if 
their  hearts  would  break. 

April  19  was  given  out  as  the  day  on 


The  Man  of  the  People  185 

which    the    general    funeral    ceremonies 
were  to  be  held — the  day  on  which  the 


The  Lincoln  monument  at  Springfield 


minutemen  fell  at  Lexington.  All  over 
the  nation  the  people  gathered  to  mourn. 
Along  the  route  from  Washington  to 
Springfield  every  town  and  city  begged 
that  the  funeral  train  might  halt  and  the 
people  be  given  an  opportunity  to  show 
their  affection  for  Lincoln. 


1 86  Abraham  Lincoln 

Sucn  scenes  no  funeral  train  had  ever 
met  as  it  passed  slowly  through  the  land. 
When  finally  Springfield  was  reached, 
Lincoln  was  laid  to  rest  in  a  lovely  spot  in 
Oak  Ridge.  Here  came  the  great  and  the 
good  to  honor  him  who  was  greatest  and 
best,  but  who,  tested  by  his  own  measure, 
would  have  counted  himself  least  among 
the  sons  of  men. 

Bishop  Simpson,  the  long-time  friend, 
delivered  a  tender  and  beautiful  oration. 
But  chief  among  those  that  came  to  the 
funeral  were  the  old  friends  who  had  lived 
in  New  Salem  and  Clary's  Grove.  They 
came  to  see  their  neighbor  and  friend, 
simple,  honest,  true  Abraham  Lincoln. 


A  Chronology  of  the  Life  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 

AGE      DATE  EVENT 

1809     February  12,  Lincoln  born  near  Hodgenville, 
Kentucky. 

7  1816     Removes  to  Indiana  near  Gentry ville. 

8  1817     Helps  his  father  build  a  cabin.     Mother 

dies. 

10  1819     Thomas  Lincoln  brings  home  new  mother, 

Sally  Bush  Johnston. 

11  1820     Lincoln  goes  to  school   (all   together  one 
to       to  year)  works  for  the  neighbors,  and  reads 

1 8  1827         incessantly. 

19  1828     First  trip  to  New  Orleans. 

21  1830     Removes  to  Illinois. 

22  1831     Goes  to  New  Salem  as  clerk  in  a  store. 

22  1831     Second  trip  to  New  Orleans;   witnesses  a 

slave  auction. 

23  1832     Candidate  for  the  Legislature. 
23     1832     Captain  in  Black  Hawk  War. 
23     1832     Defeated  for  Legislature. 

23  1832     With  Berry,  buys  a  store. 

24  1833     Appointed  postmaster  by  President  Jackson. 

24  1833    Appointed  county  surveyor  by  the  Demo- 

crats. 

25  1834     Studies  law. 
to       to 

27     1836 

187 


1 88  Abraham  Lincoln 

AGE      DATE  EVENT 

28  1837  Removes    to    Springfield    and    begins  to 

practice  law  in  earnest. 

27  1836  Reelected  to  the  Legislature, 

to  to 

31  1840 

30  1 839  First  meets  Douglas  in  debate. 

31  1 840  Stumps  the  state  for  Harrison. 
33  1842  Marries  Mary  Todd. 

33     1 842     Forms  law  partnership  with  Judge  Logan. 
35     1844     Stumps  Illinois  and  Indiana  for  his  favorite, 

Henry  Clay. 
35     1844     Supports  Baker  for  Congress,  although  he 

wanted  the  nomination  himself. 
37     1846    Elected  to  Congress. 

39  1848     Advocates  Taylor's  election. 

40  1 849     Introduces  bill  into  Congress  for  Compen- 

sated Abolition  of  Slaves  in  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

41  1850     Practices  law. 
to       to 

45     1854 

45     1854    Attacks    Douglas's     defense     of    Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill. 

47  1 856     Stumps  state  for  first  Republican  candidate 

for  the  Presidency. 

48  1857     Attacks  Dred  Scott  decision. 

49  1858     Nominated  for  United  States  Senator  by 

Republican  State  Convention. 
49     1858     Makes  a  great  speech,  "A  House  Divided 

against  Itself." 
49     1858     Challenges  Douglas  to  joint   debate;   the 

seven  joint  debates. 


The  Man  of  the  People  i8g 

AGE      DATE  EVENT 

50  1859     Receives  many  invitations  to  speak. 

51  1860     Great  speech  in  Cooper  Institute. 

51  1860  Nominated  for  President  at  Chicago. 

51  1860  Elected  President. 

52  1 86 1  Journey  to  Washington. 
52  1 86 1  Inauguration. 

52  1 86 1  Fort  Sumter  surrenders;  Lincoln  calls  for 
troops  to  defend  the  Union;  patriotic 
conduct  of  Douglas. 

52  1 86 1  Lincoln  appoints  McClellan  commander  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

52  1861     Southern  ports  blockaded.     The  "Trent" 

affair. 

53  1862     Death  of  Willie  Lincoln. 

53  1862  Lincoln  sends  out  the  Emancipation  Proc- 
lamation. 

53  1862     Appoints  Burnside  to  succeed  McClellan. 

54  1863     Emancipation  Proclamation  becomes  a  law. 
54     1863     Lincoln  appoints  Hooker  to  succeed  Burn- 
side. 

54  1863     Appoints  Meade  to  succeed  Hooker. 

55  1864     Appoints  Grant  Lieutenant-General  of  the 

Army. 

55  1864     Nominated  for  second  term  by  the  National 

Union  party.     Elected  President. 

56  1865     Lincoln  Inaugurated. 

56     1865     Visits  Grant's  army  at  City  Point. 

56     1865     Goes  to  Richmond. 

56     1865     Assassinated  by  John  Wilkes  Booth. 


A  Reading  List 


ARNOLD,  ISAAC  N.  Abraham  Lincoln.  Chicago: 
Fergus  Printing  Company.  1883. 

BALDWIN,  JAMES.  The  Story  of  Lincoln.  (Four  Great 
Americans.)  Chicago:  American  Book  Com- 
pany. 1897. 

BROOKS,  NOAH.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  the  Downfall 
of  American  Slavery.  New  York:  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons.  1894. 

CARPENTER,  F.  B.  Six  Months  at  the  White  House 
with  Abraham  Lincoln.  New  York:  Hurd  and 
Houghton.  1866. 

COFFIN,  CHARLES  C.  Abraham  Lincoln.  New  York: 
Harper  &  Brothers.  1893. 

CURTIS,  WILLIAM  ELEROY.  The  True  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. Philadelphia:  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co. 
1903. 

GILDER,  RICHARD  WATSON.  Lincoln  the  Leader.  Bos- 
ton: Houghton  Mifflin  &  Company.  1909. 

HILL,  FREDERICK  TREVOR.  Lincoln  the  Lawyer.  'New 
York:  The  Century  Co.  1906. 

LAMON,  WARD  HILL.  Recollections  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, 1847-1865.  Edited  by  Dorothy  Lamon. 
Chicago:  A.  C.  McClurg  and  Company.  1895. 

MORGAN,  JAMES.  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Boy  and  the 
Man.  New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company. 
1908. 

MORSE,  JOHN  T.,  JR.  Abraham  Lincoln.  (2  Vols.) 
(American  Statesmen.)  Boston:  Houghton 
Mifflin  &  Company.  1893. 

1 90 


The  Man  of  the  People  ipi 

NICOLAY,  HELEN.     The  Boys'  Life  of  A  braham  Lincoln. 

New  York:     The  Century  Co.     1906. 
OBERHOLTZER,    ELLIS    PAXTON.     Abraham    Lincoln. 

Philadelphia:     George  W.  Jacobs  &  Co.     1904. 
PRATT,  SILAS  G.     Lincoln  in  Story.     New  York:     D. 

Appleton  and  Company.     1901. 
PUTNAM,    GEORGE    HAVEN.     Abraham    Lincoln,    the 

People's  Leader  in  the  Struggle  for  National  Exist- 
ence.    New  York:     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     1909. 
RICE,  ALLEN  THORNDIKE.     Reminiscences  of  Abraham 

Lincoln.    New  York:    Harper  &  Brothers.    1909. 
SCHURZ,  CARL.     Abraham  Lincoln;  an  essay.     Boston 

and  New  York:     Hough  ton  Mifflin  &  Company. 

1891. 
TARBELL,  IDA  M.     The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.     (2 

Vols.)     New   York:     McClure,    Phillips  &  Co. 

1900. 
WHITNEY,  HENRY  CLAY.     Lincoln  the  Citizen.     New 

York:     The  Baker  &  Taylor  Company.     1908. 


L  005  486  862  5 


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